Why Red means Republican and Blue means Democrat in US?

Americans think of red and blue as deeply associated with the Republican and Democratic parties, but that's only been the case since the election of 2000. That's what the election night results looked like on American television. - Kennedy's victory, sir, let me tell you this. If they ever teach this machine to talk, you and I won't work. The widespread use of color television in the late 1960s and 1970s changed everything. But it would take several more decades before the media would adapt to the current color scheme - which rooms are the hardest to change from blue to red? Which ones are easy? -President Obama won all those blue states. -He must turn the voting statuses blue. To understand where this red state, blue state business came from, let's go back to when network television first used color charts to announce election results.

That was in 1972, which was also the first year that most American television households owned color televisions. All three major networks will broadcast their election coverage in color. But here's what CBS did to set itself apart from the competition. They created the first color selection card in American television history. And just look at Alabama on the CBS map. It is such a reliably conservative country. It was painted pure republican blue. No, your eyes did not deceive you. The states Republican Richard Nixon won that night in his 1972 landslide were blue on the CBS map. CBS's brilliant broadcast innovation would soon inspire other networks to use red and blue cards in their election night broadcasts.

However, CBS maintained the Republican blue and Democratic red system until the 1980 election. - For Reagan, it's a different story. You'll see it in blue over there, and this country will almost certainly be in Reagan colors tonight. These pairings may seem odd today, but they weren't then. That's because blue, as NPR's Ron Elving pointed out, was a color closely associated with the Union Army led by Republican Abraham Lincoln. On the other hand, red was the color of the united left and left parties around the world, as it is today.

In fact, NBC's head of elections in 1976 told Smithsonian Magazine that the blue of the British Conservatives and the red of Labor influenced NBC to use this color scheme for twenty years. -It's starting to look like a suburban pool. -Walter Mondale, winner of the state of Minnesota, painted red tonight for Walter Mondale. -That's George Bush's card when we look at it there. - It must be Tom. -This goes to Clinton's column after she voted with the Republicans the last three times. And as you can see, we paint in the state of Kentucky. ABC News, on the other hand, had its own state color logic: - Red states are states that we predicted would go to Mr. Reagan. Red R reactive, so we choose red. Before 1996, ABC AND CBS used the familiar Democratic blue states and Republican red states in their maps for several election seasons. So NBC decided to make the change for a very simple reason as well. -NBC decided to adapt the same color scheme as ABC and CBS so as not to confuse the viewers. But only in the election of 2000 was the political term or phrase "red state" against "blue state".

On election night, network anchors and pundits relied heavily on color maps to explain how close the race between George W. Bush and Al Gore was. Soon, the red and blue states that the country saw over and over again on television became ingrained in American culture. David Letterman was one of the first cultural figures to raise the issue just days after the 2000 election. - Candidates compromise, and thank God, not too soon. That's how it goes. George W. Bush becomes president of red states. Al W. Gore becomes president of blue states. And that's the best they can do.

The same TV cards would also help popularize the terms "red state" and "blue state" among political pundits and tabloid writers. It was a useful shorthand when memories of the 2000 election were burned into the American psyche. Over time, the term not only referred to states that voted for Bush and Gore, but also as a way to describe the cultural values ​​associated with the electoral geography of the United States.

All this was not lost on then state senator Barack Obama when he addressed the DNC in 2004. - Scientists want to divide our country into red and blue states. Red states for Republicans and blue states for Democrats. However, on election night 2004, the conditions, colors and cards were blocked. Now you see red and blue terminology everywhere in American life: it's in modern party iconography, consulting group names, coffee brands, and even that Kentucky barbecue pot.

Now there is even a color for states that can vote either Democrat or Republican. And while many may complain about the disharmony that circumstances have brought to the country. Maybe they should look on the bright side. At least it inspired Harry Smith of CBS to record this wonderful song. - I'm from a red state. -I'm from the blue - We met in the middle and we don't see eye to eye. -He's a bleeding heart -Yours is made of stone -Sometimes I wonder how we survive.

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