Why are Democrats called blue and Republicans red?

The Democrats are blue and the Republicans are ... yellow? Why aren't they red? The answer is: Because the assignation of red-as-Republican, blue-as-Democrat didn't become the standard until the last election of the third century in which America existed: the election of 2000. read more

According to the Smithsonian, the current standard (Republicans red, Democrats blue) didn't solidify until Indecision 2000. In one year on one station, Democrats were yellow, and blue was used for undecided states. read more

In 1976, NBC debuted its first election map on the air, with bulbs that turned red for Carter-won states (Democratic), and blue for Ford (Republican). This original color scheme was based on Great Britain's political system, which used red to denote the more liberal party. read more

Newspapers including The New York Times and USA Today jumped on the Republican-red and Democrat-blue theme that year, too, and stuck with it. Both published color-coded maps of results by county. Counties that sided with Bush appeared red in the newspapers. read more