Why is democrat blue

Today it's almost universally accepted by Americans that Republicans are "red" and Democrats are the "blue. Prior to , red and blue did not always respectively denote Republicans and Democrats.

That changed with the election of the new millennium and its drawn-out conclusion — which ended in mid-December that year with Republican George W. Surprisingly … no. In fact, the whole notion of consistently attaching a particular hue to each political party is a relatively new concept in the US, not emerging as a common distinction until the presidential election between Democrat and Vice President Al Gore and Republican Texas Governor George W. But why red for Republicans? And why does blue stand for Democrats?

It all started with television. More American households had color TV sets than ever before, giving news programs covering the election an opportunity to show splashy graphics when a state was called in favor of a given candidate. The first network to color-code states during an election results broadcast was CBS in In Great Britain, red had long been used to represent the more liberal party, which in this American use case were the Democrats. Blue stood in for Republicans by default, in part because the colors in contrast were striking on screen.

One rumor, debunked by NBC election unit manager Roy Wetzel, suggested that red was used for Democrats because of some liberal ideologies linking Democrats to Communism. But by the lates and early s, those color assignments reversed. Blue became more consistently used for Democrats and red for Republicans. Brand Solutions. Video series featuring innovators.

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