Throughout history colour is one device that has been successfully used to identify political affiliations. For example, red has a long-standing relationship with communism and black is typically associated with fascism. More recently, green has become the colour of choice for the environmentally-conscious Green Party. In the USA, two colours eventually surfaced to signify the Democratic and Republican political parties: red and blue – the colours of the American flag. Since the formation of the two parties (Democrats in 1828 and the Republicans in 1854) they have both, at different times, rallied behind each colour.
It was not until the year 2000 that the term “red states and blue states” was cemented. It was during the presidential election between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore that the major television networks introduced the new qualifier. On a map of the USA they used red to highlight states that were leaning towards or had voted Republican and, in turn, blue for states trending to the Democrats. Print publications, like the New York Times and USA Today, followed suit by publishing election maps using the same identifying colour scheme. “Red begins with r, Republican begins with r,” said New York Times senior graphics editor Archie Tse, “…it was a more natural association.” Both parties have gone on to embrace their respective colours, applying them to everything from election signs to baseball caps.