Why red means Republican and blue means Democrat

The major party color schemes, and the terms “red state” and "blue state," are actually a recent phenomenon.
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[@FIREDRAGON158]

So basically our colors switch because ABC thought, "red for Reagan." Everyone else in the world thinks red for the left party and blue for the right party.

[@sapphron]

just like meters vs yards. we are the exception!

[@Sillykat420]

Yep. Here in the UK conservatives are blue and labour party is red. On top of this, we also have the right wing UKIP which is purple and the left wing green party which is, unsurprisingly, green.

[@kalvincastro9042]

FIREDRAGON158 I assumed it was "Red for Republican" and Democrats got blue because it's a popular color against red and part of the "red white and blue" color scheme.

[@MrFerdimand]

KZbinr What?

[@TheRazorTongue]

'Murica!!!

[@rejvaik00]

Am I going color blind? Casue i swear that map with Alabama was green

[@robertjenkins6132]

I was just about to comment the same thing.

[@VishalShah2799]

It could be a problem with your monitor as not all monitors represent colors the same way.

[@robertjenkins6132]

Vishal Shah Go to 1:09 and look carefully at the lower right corner of the TV. You will see three colored circles above the word "TRINITRON": Red, Green, and Blue, in the traditional RGB order. The color of Alabama is like a dark version of the middle color, which is green. It might be on the boundary of greenish-bluish, but it's definitely not pure blue (0, 0, 255). Pure Republican Green.

[@seabb]

Your default profile picture color is that color.

[@seabb]

And also, I think the issue is with the old tv screen. You see how the red state has a bit of an orange tinge to it? I think the whole screen has a yellow tinge to it and that's where you're getting that green.

[@JonDoe-op9sq]

I'm pretty sure it was white and gold.

[@SnoozeTheRecluse]

No it's Patrick

[@eoghan.5003]

Definitely Laurel

[@matthewbish2082]

Jon Doe omgggggg

[@selinwang6171]

Nono, it’s turquoise and grey!

[@gjk-arts5855]

Blue and black

[@seahawk124]

For us colour blind people, this video was a nightmare!

[@auDipquid]

Colors are amazing! You don't know what you're missing.

[@uetzel]

anime must look really shitty to you

[@lilbihxxx1234]

You are going to have to look at the percentages tonight then.

[@reddy4play]

Red and Blue literally cannot be mixed up, unless you're one of the 0.01% of black-white colour blind people. Even then, blue would be darker and red would be lighter. Something's fishy here.

[@liquidmantle]

Blue states and green states

[@hijack69]

But this year its Blue and Orange

[@GentlemanWiz]

if being orange is a crime...

[@theimmortal4718]

no its red and gray, since hillary is dying

[@theimmortal4718]

you're right. orange and grey

[@doctorwrm]

Yes, because minor medical issues are the real reason why Clinton shouldn't be president.

[@101jir]

This year is orange and black: orange for a criminal, black for fascism.

[@TheRealSyncRow]

Thought that blue in 1972 was green?

[@spaceunicorn]

I'm paranoid that I'm colorblind now

[@CostaLara]

Alabama is like that dress.

[@lolpauve]

Well I have red/green colorblindness (the most common one, found with 6-8% of European males) and I see it as green so it's not out of the question. It's very mild though.

[@Tsskyx]

It's the quality of the image. Remember that TV colors weren't so sharp back in 1972.

[@Lius525]

Jesus christ it's blue dress again all over again isn't it?

[@ThePowerofJames]

The rest of the world: Metric, celcius, and Liberals are red Conservatives are blue The US: We do it right, the rest of you are wrong

[@kiwikiwi2483]

Not every country need to be the same

[@Cnut_the_grape]

It's just colours lad

[@misterlee6770]

Also in Korea, democratics are blue and conservatives are red.

[@alejandroibanez5110]

Here in Colombia conservative is blue and liberal is red

[@sujalparad5483]

In India, we have BJP(Bhartiya Janta Party), Indian National Congress, Shiv Sena.

[@AniPlayFilms]

in Canada, it's the opposite. red means liberals and blue means conservatives. and orange means socialist

[@1h3art_mys3lf-]

Lmao and America is quickly falling behind

[@CortoMalteaser]

techn0vids Canada is in much better condition than the us, we have much lower poverty and better healthcare, as well as affordable university and we aren't governed by a sicko, this is all socialist traits combined with capitalism. In America there's huge gun crime, poverty and people die without healthcare all the time because of greedy corporations.

[@CortoMalteaser]

The young Republican orange is the Ndp party, a party slightly more liberal than the liberals, but there's nothing wrong with being socialist.

[@CortoMalteaser]

Matt G ironic how everything you just said was wrong. Canada has better healthcare and almost nobody dies due to lack of it. In America there's gun crime and tons of poverty, and you all get screwed by large corporations

[@sidewalkalfletcher1360]

In America orange means criminal

[@Richie_P]

Up until election night, 2000, I had always imagined the republican party as blue and the democratic party as red, precisely because red is the color of leftism. I remember looking at the Bush-Gore election map and being like, "What the hell? They got the colors backwards!"

[@brettduch]

In Canada the Liberals (left) are red and the Conservatives (right) are blue.

[@maxwellerickson7066]

Democrats are almost defined by their support for personal liberty (liberal social policy) and government-heavy economics, compared to restrictive personal choice (conservative social policy) and economic minimalism for the Republicans. I'm not sure where you're coming from but it's all right if you were just confused. Also, the Republicans are on the left? That's an odd statement. No civilised nation has a more far-right socially conservative party on such a scale. You seem to be saying that everything more progressive than fascism is on the left.

[@Tyke91]

As a Canadian and a satanic atheist, I question your assertion that I live in a theocracy.

[@Tyke91]

... The current Primate of the anglican church in Canada is Fred Hiltz, our current Prime Minister is Justin Trudeau. Our current queen is Elizabeth II. The Archbishop of Canterbury (The closest thing that the anglican church has to a pope) is Justin Welby. 10/10 troll, no sarcasm. Well done.

[@Tyke91]

***** lol. Elizabeth couldn't give a rat's ass about imposing theocratic power on Canada. Her job is to be the metaphorical personification of the State, similar to the land that it is built upon. It is in her job description to be politically neutral. If you don't know this, you know even even less about our country than I thought you did. If the queen were to apply political power to Canada, she would do it through her Governor General - not through the Anglican Church of Canada. The Anglican Church would exert its power through the Primate or the Archbishop of Canterbury, the queen has nothing to do with their day to day business. It's almost like you're confusing symbolic figureheads with actual statesmen. Furthermore, it's impossible for an abrahimic theology to exist in a state with religious freedom. Commandment #1 is "you shall have no gods before me", and Canadians are allowed to worship (or not worship) any god(s) they desire. Your silly "Last Post" shenanigans are just a cop out so that you can leave the conversation on empty assertions and ignorance. You must be a blast to hang out with in real life.

[@TheAnthraxBiology]

Nearly every other country has Left red, Right blue. Why must you be different?!

[@TheHappyHuntsman]

We think we are special

[@tremolo2109]

"Other" country? What?

[@littlemisscupcake9280]

We're also the same country that uses pounds and fahrenheit.. ah america.. rip

[@tannerdavis212]

As I'm sure you know, red has often been associated with communism, and left-leaning TV networks in America probably don't want to associate the Democratic party with communism by using red. I don't think that it was to set ourselves apart from other countries. It is very puzzling, though.

[@stevenjohnson5165]

It's the same thing in my country (Macedonia) the Conservatives(Right-Wing) use red while the Social-Democrats(Left-Wing) use blue I'm not exactly sure why this is the case.

[@TheJRSvideos]

The rest of the world: “Red is left, blue is conservative.” USA: “RED FOR REAGAN!”

[@mz9791]

Am I blind or was that green

[@ninja.saywhat]

and i thought i was color blind there for a second

[@joedittmann5377]

It looks like yellow to me

[@nexus1g]

1:07, it's blue and 1:09, it's green (really more of a teal since there is still some blue in there). Probably just degradation of the celluloid. In the close-up image, you can also see the states being more orange than red but the legend is clearly red. You're not blind.

[@nexus1g]

Joe, you may have deuteranomaly color blindness. It's a difficulty in seeing green. The colors are green majority with an ever so slight blue. There's no yellow.

[@HayTatsuko]

Nope, that was very much greenish. I suspect it was originally blue, though.

[@PabloBatistaArq]

this is just like the history of the "blue is for boys and pink is for girls" thing. It's just a recent, made-up, wierd thing

[@SuperRat420]

Pretty much, yes, recently. Even in the 19th century, pink was a color for boys. And it didn't flip like a switch come the 20th.

[@SuperRat420]

***** Problem is you really can't have one without the other. No real reason to differentiate in the first place. If there really is a significant difference due to sex, it'll be made apparent though design.

[@TheSunlitLeaf]

Ugh, the colours for kids thing! I hate it! When my daughter was little, her favourite colour was red. It is so hard to find red clothing for little girls. I had to look in the boys section and most of that had stuff on it like "handsome like Daddy!" Even now, when she's 5, we shop in the boys' section as well as the girls' because she loves Thomas the Tank Engine and Paw Patrol and Star Wars, none of which can be found in the girls section. And just try to find a dinosaur shirt aimed at girls! On the other hand I have my sister fighting tooth and nail to keep her little boys from ever wearing colours she considers to be girly, and buying presents for them is scary because I never know what normal toy is going to be too feminine for her taste. I say, let's let colours be colours, clothes be clothes, and toys be toys. Life's just too short to worry about crap like this!

[@TheSunlitLeaf]

lol we got tired of our baby girl being called a baby boy, so we put her in more pink than I really liked. People still walked up and asked what "his" name was and "how old is he?" Since then I haven't given a darn. lol

[@jaschabull2365]

Though according to another Vox video, this is even more recent than gendered colours, which apparently is mainly ultimately because First Lady Eisenhower liked pink.

[@TacticalSpray]

Interesting and ... yet non political? well done, nice.

[@TacticalSpray]

i meant in terms of bias.. It was not "another reason why we hate the republicans" it seemed reasonably neutral...

[@JimCullen]

Non-partisan is probably a less ambiguous term you could have used.

[@TacticalSpray]

Yes I could have made that a bit clearer you are right.

[@TheSunlitLeaf]

I think we all knew what you meant to say. And I agree, it was refreshing.

[@TacticalSpray]

***** because its the internet bro no hard feelings.

[@AwesumBear]

I wonder if this helped drive the entire "us" vs "them" mentality that we see in politics today.

[@amethystblue6355]

Kinda sad actually

[@amethystblue6355]

I wish Republicans and Democrats would be open minded for once and actually form a better, more advanced opinion rather than enforcing there own beliefs which would then lead to a better government, economy, and life

[@ozyman_dias]

In Germany: Red - Far Left & Social Democrats Green - ecological party Yellow - Liberals Black - Conservatives Blue - Far Right

[@mr.anderson2241]

How did the conservatives in Germany end up as black? Is this supposed to be in reference to Prussia?

[@ozyman_dias]

@@mr.anderson2241 They didnt choose it as their colour but their opponents chose it for them. Because the Conservatives take religious values serious, like priests who wear black clothes

[@mr.anderson2241]

@@ozyman_dias ah I see the correlation now that you mention it. Kinda odd since typically the black is more associated with Catholic priests, would expect it to be the colors for like a Bavarian Christian party

[@bobing1752]

More than 2 parties?? What kind of magic is this???

[@ShizukaRose]

I noticed politicians also incorporate these colors into their wardrobes. Red ties v blue ties

[@alcarbo8613]

Yes American Politics are increasingly becoming like British Politics when it comes to colors

[@susanlowy3947]

Although Trump wore blue tie and Clinton had red dress.

[@susanlowy3947]

@@goitsimodimomadue8053 Where'd u get that from?

[@N.A525]

Always dark suits

[@randomcomplex6155]

*♪RED STATE BARBECUE♪*

[@Actiaeon]

It's actually good barbecue

[@cranberry7601]

Random Complex ayy fellow jacks films watcher

[@gurnawazgill8576]

In Canada: Blue (conservative, right) Red (liberal, centre left) Orange (social democratic, far left) Green (environmental party, slightly farther left) Purple (nationalist, far right)

[@gamingthisera6339]

Purple looks badass

[@gurnawazgill8576]

Original never heard of that. Are you talking about the separatist party, cause they are light blue (Quebec) and black (west)

[@jonaboktr5269]

Gurnawaz Gill this is true (fellow Canadian)

[@owl2944]

the ndp is far from far left

[@JastwatchingYT]

@@owl2944 Isn't ndp more yellowish?

[@ShamanMcLamie]

I heard the main reason Republicans were given Red is because they both start with the same letter. Democrats were given Blue because that's what was left.

[@supremeastro5300]

nice pun

[@exyzt9877]

I mean, the actual reason is because the news liked the idea of "Red for Reagan" and that stuck.

[@bonrind]

Crips vs Bloods

[@wrongpingpong]

Democrips vs Rebloodicans

[@solidkingcobra]

so do you mean crippled by birth or crippled by accident?

[@Pxrish]

+Magnus McCloud its was a joke lol

[@AlopeciaPatientx]

Magnus McCloud Lol South Park

[@user-jx1rs5my4u]

Grove Street Vs ballas

[@Olodus]

Good video. Always wondered this, since in Sweden we use red as the color of our left (parties like the Social Democrats) and blue for our right (conservative parties and the like). As you mentioned in the video I though this was a quite global color scheme. Even though even our right leaning parties would probably be deep deep blue in American eyes.

[@Legionaairre]

Red is left and blue is conservative (and yellow is liberal/centre) all over the world EXCEPT America for some reason.

[@that_pac123]

It's like that everywhere that isn't America. In the EU too ofcourse, it's like that in France. It should seem like a blatant contradiction what with conservative America's "better dead than red" slogan. It might have to do with the Democratic and Republican parties doing a complete flip in political orientation, but I haven't watched the video yet, and perhaps after I may know for certain.

[@Serviss09]

Yep Canada also has Liberal red and Torie Blue.

[@ylette]

Swedish Social Democrats, aka Swedish Suicidal Democrats.

[@magnushmann]

In Denmark, all parties are very different colors, but when the "blocks" get simplified, red are the social democratic leaning parties and blue are the liberal leaning parties. The conservative parties are usually grouped with the liberal leaning parties, due to the numerous similarities in their policy stances, I guess.

[@jaschabull2365]

"It might seem very strange to see blue used to represent the conservative party." Any other Canadians get a chuckle from this?

[@alostnerd7032]

yes

[@wilson3664]

Yep

[@danielcorrigan8805]

As a Canadian this always confused me. I once thought Republicans were liberal and Democrats were conservatives because of the colours.

[@fos1451]

They used to be

[@gerardanderson9665]

@@fos1451 party switch

[@plpong893]

That was the case until 1920.

[@thomasedwardharrison2879]

They were until the 20’s - 30’s

[@robfromvan]

This is complicated by the fact that Republican platforms were once considered liberal so now people who are conservative call themselves “classical liberal” which is actually closer to being a liberterian, whereas Democrats favour all kinds of regulatory controls on the economy, which a classical liberal would consider very illiberal.

[@DizzyWolf01]

This has always been confusing to Brits since, as you say, the red is left (labour) and conservative right is blue

[@icameherejusttocomment550]

DizzyWolf01 And the Lib Dems are yellow. Also, at times, Labour was more right than the Conservative Party (New Labour vs 1960s Tories)

[@DieFlabbergast]

Not just to us Brits - to everyone else in the world!

[@2HRTS1LOVE]

I knew I remembered a blue Reagan map from when I was a kid. Thought I was going crazy. Or crazier. Whatever.

[@2HRTS1LOVE]

***** Who are you calling elder?!!? ;) Lol, I was talking about the election with my teenage son, and I told him of the 84 election, when the entire map was blue except for Mondale's home state of Minnesota, and he said, "You mean red?", and at first I thought I'd just mixed it up. But it bugged me, because I remembered that dang blue map, so I had to look it up, and yay! I'm not going senile yet.

[@brian1206]

+OGSpaceCadet He said he's surprised that AN elder didn't tell him this. He's not talking about you.

[@2HRTS1LOVE]

Brian Connolly It was a joke. See the winkie and lol? Lighten up, Francis.

[@therealwewin]

@@2HRTS1LOVE it was blue. Vox is rewriting history and gaslighting you.

[@insertfunnyhandle77]

_could everyone stop talking about politics when this video’s about colors_

[@beccabrns1723]

It's about political colours. What do you expect?

[@darkshadows65]

Highly informative, well-researched, and yet not dripping with bias. In fact, not an ounce of bias. I remember when the news was like that. Very nice, well done!

[@thegreatwalrus6574]

Red is still liberal in Canada.

[@daviderenda9211]

Also in nearly all the rest of the world

[@hamzarashad8244]

and blue is conservative

[@loissimmons109]

As someone who remembers the maps in the US History textbooks long before color TV was widespread, Republicans were always depicted as the blue states and Democrats as the red states. I also remember commentators referring to Republican or Conservative values and states as being "blue state" and the corresponding "red state" term for Democrat or Liberal values and states. The only thing surprising to me in this video is that it took NBC so long to get the memo to disassociate an increasingly left leaning Democratic Party from the very established symbolism in the culture of red with communism, socialism and liberalism. (And I write this as someone who agrees with the Democratic Party on a number of issues, particularly in the area of Civil Rights and Social Justice.)

[@every116]

Yeah, I distictly remember back in second grade when we first learned about the political system in clas that Democrats were red and Republicans were blue. as well.

[@anngan5045]

Fascists like their most extreme example, Hitler, actually taxed rich very low (highest income tax rate 12% when at the same time in Roosevelt's America under New Deal it was over 90%) and their economy was based on huge private corporations like IG Farbenindustrie, which build concentration camps and participated in crimes against humanity for private profit.

[@a_little_bird]

love the edits on these videos. they're spectacular and the quality is always top notch. Thanks Vox!

[@dabro4963]

America needs a third party desperately.

[@SnoozeTheRecluse]

Why?

[@xhaanfilms2479]

They got Green and Liberal, and they have less than 10% of the vote when combined

[@1980rlquinn]

The voting system would need a serious revamping for that to ever happen. Even if a third party gains popularity, one of the existing parties would just fade as it all settles back into a two-party system.

[@dabro4963]

1980rlquinn dint think of that scenario. Interesting take.

[@Marylandbrony]

Problem is that two are niche parties with little support beyond there base and people don't have a widely known alternative.

[@mgriff39]

I started working in television in 1979. One of the first things I remember about election coverage was the guy in the graphics department explaining the two colors he picked for the different parties. I don't remember the two colors but I do remember him explaining that it look different in the grayscale. Back then a lot of people still owned black-and-white televisions and the two colors you pick had to look different in black-and-white...

[@liteyagami6364]

When one of Vox's videos about the political system isn't in the least politically charged.

[@the-sands-of-time]

*The logical explanation:* 1:57 Blue has historically represented the Union Army (which was led by a Republican), and red is already associated with left-wing parties around the world. *Murica:* 2:52 lol red and reagan both start with the letter "r"

[@babyzorilla]

ow my brain, it's learning

[@zackiechan2601]

Thats the liberals for yah

[@rseestella2296]

@@zackiechan2601 😂😂 you guys are so desperate, gotta take a shot at the Liberals anytime you get. Don’t you ever get tired of embarrassing yourself?

[@nooblord1233]

@@rseestella2296 fight fire with fire i guess

[@ramiro041]

3:08 thanks i really needed you to ad that audio comentary, no way i could have figured it out myself

[@Germaco]

In Germany the blues are the AfD ( Alternative for Germany ) which is a right wing party, The reds are the SPD ( Social democratic Party Germany ) which are left wings

[@itswavo]

the nostalgia i get when i see how curved, small and low quality TV’s used to be

[@Deborahtunes]

Thank you for sharing this. I had heard about the switch, but couldn't find any information on it...

[@LK-dx2oq]

Thank You! This was very interesting.

[@RealGraySkyMusic]

Red - color of anger & rage Blue - color of tranquility & safety

[@tobyvarhaugvik12]

Red can also mean love and affection, while blue can mean sorrow and loneliness. It really is a matter of personal preference!

[@liamdavis2387]

Vox: "What? There are OTHER countries outside of America? I... I need to sit down."

[@thejunks3597]

one of the best Vox has done in a while without all the damn bias

[@Dishasareen_]

very informative video. good job!!!!

[@5ab14]

Politics? NOW I'M ANGRY

[@ThZuao]

TRIGGERED!!

[@CouchLock]

IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZAR!! BLAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!

[@LucasBenderChannel]

It's astounding that the US, with all its media proficiency, didn't have party colors until the turn of the millenium. In Germany the color red has been used by the SPD since the late 19th century. Bascially all our party colors are more than 100 years old, or at least trace their origins back to older iterations of their ideologies. Weird.

[@realazduffman]

One other reason for red and blue was probably that those colors showed best in early color sets vs. say yellow.

[@Anonymous-df8it]

Or, you know, they could have used black vs white which would have shown up even better!

[@chordcaster]

In a curious twist, you can form the word "red" from the letters in "DEmocRat", and "blue" from the letters in "rEpUBLican", although that's the opposite of what the colors represent (so maybe they should switch it?).

[@maddie-bw5ue]

Your videos are so aestheticly pleasing Why can't I be like that? Cries*

[@franticranter]

What i've always found weird is that i'm from the uk, and i'm used to red being left for labour and blue being right for tories.

[@greenbutter3190]

Stable video👍

[@richardwoodson2171]

Great Message,!!!

[@mayurkulkarni1990]

always so much efforts Vox puts into their content, I wonder why only they got 1M subs

[@spoof8504]

its because of youtube's algorithm, this content is as exposed to viewers as other channels are

[@liamdavis2387]

Oh good, another video on America. Thank god, it's been at least an hour since your last ten videos about America. I was worried we'd have another video about one of the other 200+ countries in the world.

[@shavonegranville6004]

lmao vox is american. what did you expect liam? what did you expect?

[@randomguy5990]

USA USA USA USA

[@stalpers]

boo hoo

[@Ocrilat]

Awesome. Of course, you could start your own channel, and make your own videos on whatever you want...though it's probably easier to cry about America. Please America, fix my problems for me!

[@ThZuao]

What if I told you Vox is an US based news outlet with most of it's audience coming from that country? I know, right! My mind was blown too when I figured that out!!

[@MsVilma1970]

Glad I'm not the only one who thought the Republicans were blue and the Democrats were red!

[@johnweber4577]

It would just make so much more sense if that color association stuck. Lol

[@prosamuraigaming1972]

Vox:"Alabama is Blue" Comments:"Alabama is green" *Blue was the imposter*

[@imaxdigital7052]

WTF... Thats green, not blue. Don't reply if you saw green, just reply if you saw Blue. Did anyone see Blue???

[@Suedocode]

What if I saw it as purple? Do I still respond? Oh no, but now that I have... What have I done?

[@arthinox3317]

It's cyan for me.

[@manonthemoon2815]

I SAW GREEN

[@WilliamAndrea]

It was white and gold for me

[@SkeleCrafteronYT]

Not deep blue but still blue

[@TheCpHaddock]

American exceptionalism: Imperial system instead of metric, use blue for the left-leaning party instead of red and call football soccer!

[@rhodawatkins4516]

Our country is different from other countries. And then there's Texas, which prides itself on being even more different than the rest of the country.

[@jakeweberzwier8655]

@@rhodawatkins4516 and then there's Commifornia😕

[@thematthew761]

@@jakeweberzwier8655 California is neoliberal

[@jakeweberzwier8655]

@@thematthew761 there's no difference 😎

[@thematthew761]

@@jakeweberzwier8655 Communism=Neoliberal? What?

[@lydiawong8238]

So interesting!!

[@eazyethan261]

In England, the Conservative Party uses blue meaning traditional values since years ago, most groups that were traditional wore blue uniforms. The Labour Party uses red because it symbolizes revolution, as seen in the French Revolution and the Russian Revolution

[@glb0768]

I think this shows the sway that media, even in early color television, has on the public. It's really amazing what kind of power those handfuls of news anchors have and practice every day.

[@memewarveteran2043]

If you were actually Jesus you wouldn't care the least bit about politics.

[@glb0768]

HDMI Is Life I mean why wouldnt I care about the fate a nation chooses for itself and how is shapes over time?

[@chopinbloc]

Jesus didn't engage in politics but He certainly cared about politics.

[@memewarveteran2043]

Jesus Sorry, if your gonna have that name at least try to represent the way he thought.

[@glb0768]

HDMI Is Life just cause yall went to church dont mean you know me

[@IvanDankinov]

All good and interesting And then that song ... I lost it ... (rofl)

[@jonboybilly]

I love this channel because it provides information and education in an effective and entertaining way. Keep it up VOX!

[@1800Supreme]

You got to love that 60° angle on the Glare BookPro. Matte ftw

[@chraman169]

Red means socialist here.

[@felixfeliciano7011]

Yep. Often when I hear of people trying to distance themselves from the Republican/Democrat dichotomy they will refer to themselves as "Socially Liberal and Fiscally Conservative." It doesn't help that a large number of registered "independents" are often left leaning. This of course is a huge issue for them as they are often forced to vote one way or the other, usually in opposition of the group they fear the most. If they vote Democrat, they are accused of being weak Democrats. If they vote Republican, they are accused of being traitors. Either way, they end up voting against their own interests because the other side ends up being worse for them. This is a huge shame for everyone else though as while a large number of Republicans and a smaller but still significant number of Democrats want as little compromise on their issues as possible, the swing voters DO want compromise. That is why top democrats are so conservative, because if they become extreme, they risk losing those left leaning swing voters. Meanwhile the extremely left Democrats have no choice BUT to vote for them anyway. What is their alternative? Vote for the Republicans whom they hate? Cote for a third party that inevitably steals votes from their own side ensuring the Republicans win anyway? Its insanity.

[@Roxor128]

This makes US politics confusing. You've got the colours the opposite way round from us. In Australia, we're used to seeing the Liberal party (centre-right) in blue and Labour (centre-left) in red.

[@JoJo-xp6wr]

The outro was great

[@jred7]

Wow! That song is dope!

[@user-gl3cu4re7j]

I always thought Democrats were blue for water. And Republicans were fire. Made more sense to me. Democrats sometimes put out the fire Y’know?

[@slugoo6474]

Or start them lol. 2020 for example.

[@realsmollbean]

@@slugoo6474 Ok we are done here, please stop leaving your ignorant little remarks about the BLM protests, let me explain. The rioters in the BLM protests are NOT protesters. They are simply selfish beings who look out for themselves in: Stealing from stores, vandalizing for revenge, vandalizing for fun. They do not care about the message at all and simply want for themselves, some might even be Trump supports you never know. So let me be very clear, these are NOT BLM protesters, they are selfish people doing selfish things. It is so embarrassing that BLM is associated with this behavior, so GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT.

[@osberswgaming]

5:09 ah yes my favourite purple state, *w a s h i n g t o n*

[@pleudumes]

It was until 2004

[@Davey-TheDJ]

I kinda like that song played at the end!🎧😎

[@zerefsunlimitedshipworks]

2:57 That DR hit me in the anime (Dangan Ronpa)

[@truetuesday4]

Minnesota isn’t a purple state! We’re the longest running blue state!

[@vortex_master]

I'm a liberal in Kentucky, and I must say Red State BBQ is delicious. They name their different sauces after different "Red States." Which also happen to be known for different styles of barbeque, such as Texas, Tennessee, and Carolina.

[@abdul-hameed]

The reference to bright side (the KZbin channel) was incredible

[@ojaskanade9048]

You get my like just for the song!

[@jtszabo1691]

I’m 33, that explains why I got red and blue mixed up in my teen years lol

[@osipoff444]

A very informative and insightful video by Vox. However, it fell short of explaining why the parties swapped the colors, which kind of contradicts the title. Is it really just because of the "R is for Reagan" thing? Or there's some truth in what some people in the comment section describe as journalists' desire to prevent the Democrats from being associated with the communists?

[@applesyrupgaming]

both

[@HeatherSpoonheim]

Thanks for this one - for some reason I just had it in my head that red/blue went back to Carter. Still seems that way, in my head.

[@alcarbo8613]

While technically it it did the First time Republicans where Red and Democrats where Blue was on ABC in 1980 and Carter was President in 1980

[@maa1649]

I was most impressed by the singing 🎤 of the television anchorman. That was a ok song 😂

[@deedee7733]

Wish the colours hadn't flipped, makes it difficult for a Brit to follow American politics!

[@Anonymous-df8it]

At least it's not "(adjectival form of 1/32768" wavelength of light) states" and "(adjectival form of 1/65536" wavelength of light) states" as that would be a nightmare for everyone!

[@py8554]

Someone once told me Red means Rednecks, and rednecks vote mainly Republican….. I never checked how valid this claim is though…..

[@experimental2.372]

Lol. That early 2000s "Apex" tv

[@terryfeng4734]

When i was young i thought theres something to do with star war

[@foreigncarsrule]

Ha ha this is awesome! 😆🤣 I love it. My favorite color is red ironically but my political views are as blue as the ocean for the most part.

[@TreStayCool]

The only time Texas was consistently blue

[@corbinglenn2567]

Maybe in 8 years?

[@kaikyc.5072]

0:14 Cave Johnson spittin straight fax

[@kscvkj]

could you do a video about left and right, were the words come from?

[@NakasDougen]

But didn't parties use colours in campaigns before tv? Did they not have colour schemes ?

[@garyphilipmcadam]

Almost certainly! This video assumes the history of politics began in the 70s and existed purely on broadcast news. Strange.

[@alexanderl8794]

The world didn't have color. Everything was monochrome back then

[@laytonwindust4351]

Of course they did. It's just that red and blue didn't mean Republican and Democrat. Red, white, and blue were just American colors so they were used. I looked at an old McKinnely ad and it was just colored with an american flag. The red and blue just represented that and not the individual parties.

[@xylophone897]

Alexander L is right. EVERYONE knows the world was black and white, until the 1930s, when everything turned into color.

[@Douglas_Props]

Wow: that “song” is AWEFUL!!

[@TheSunlitLeaf]

Watching this, I don't feel so bad about never being able to remember what "color" I am or which color I'm hoping my state will turn on the map. I've been watching the news since I was a very small child in the 80s (I remember seeing stuff about Iran Contra when I was 2 2 1/2, for instance) so it's no wonder I'm confused. Maybe this will help me remember! And that Harry Smith performance cracked me up :D

[@smashingthreeplates2171]

Fun Fact: South Korea uses the same colour scheme that the U.S. does

[@MyILoveMinecraft]

Why only two colors? Look at Germany. We have black, red, green, purple, yellow, purple and sadly blue and brown.

[@FortuitusVideo]

Different political systems. In Germany, your parties form coalitions when needed. In America, the coalitions are semi-permanent fixtures from year to year.

[@JS_SN_UQAU]

In Canada, we have blue (Conservative), red (Liberal), orange (NDP), light blue (Bloc Québécois), and green (Green)

[@seckunscripted2522]

.

[@felixfeliciano7011]

Its a inevitable result of FPTP (First Past The Post) or winner-take-all voting. It inevitably leads to two-party systems as people realize that by voting for those that support them the most, ends up giving the advantage to those that support them the least. This election cycle might be the first to have a different result but only because the candidates on both sides of the major parties are so historically disliked, that half of their supporters are only voting for them because they hate the OTHER side more. Many have argued the merits of having a two-party system and for a time, it was a convenient way to group people who barely agreed with each other in order to work on issues together. Now though, the reality that your fellow rights and lefts don't actually hold the same views as you has sent a shock wave through the political climate and threatens to break the powerful political giants that people thought were sacrosanct. Only time will tell if its a good thing or a bad thing.

[@adrianobulla7875]

Blue is associated with conservatives in Europe, and red with the Left.

[@blagoevski336]

Wrong

[@jakeweberzwier8655]

@@blagoevski336 how so?

[@agent_277]

As a non-American, this is very interesting to know. Thank you! 👏

[@dannmarceau9743]

I remember those good old days, in fact I remember getting color t.v. in 1965.

[@lane156]

*has to chose random reliable conservative state everyone knows *choose Alabama

[@cam42704]

Kind of ironic that blue team means the defensive team in certain fields while the red team are usually the attackers… Perfect example of Jan. 6.

[@ArnoldTeras]

Honestly, they should switch colors, like the UK's parties, aligned Conservative with Blue and Liberals with Red.....

[@Pan_Z]

But why did they switch? Having Republicans be blue and Democrats be red made more sense based off the reasons provided in this video

[@treebear8364]

Blue is more of a calming color while red isn't. So I guess they decided to give democrats that color instead of Republicans.

[@Pan_Z]

tree bear Blue is a color of nothing changing, like conservatives. Keep things the way they are. Red is seen as a radical color, change. Makes more sense for that to be for the liberal party