Why US Republicans are red and Democrats blue, traced to 1976
The gist
US Republicans are linked to red and Democrats to blue, an association traced to the 1976 Ford-Carter election.
The color coding only hardened into 'red states' and 'blue states' by 2000.
How it unfolded
- 1976Per Smithsonian Magazine, the color-party association began in the Ford-Carter election, with blue assigned to Republican Ford and red to Democrat Carter.
- 2000The notion of 'red states' (Republican) and 'blue states' (Democratic) became cemented in the national psyche, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
- date unknownIn Massachusetts, primary election colors were reversed from the national stereotype — Democrats in red, Republicans in blue — because the state's color system predated the Ford-Carter election.