Red states and blue states

"Red state" and "Blue state" redirect here. For other uses, see Red State and Blue State.

Summary of statewide results of the 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections by state
  Won by the Republicans in all four elections
  Won by the Republicans in three of the four elections
  Won by each party twice in the four elections
  Won by the Democrats in three of the four elections
  Won by the Democrats in all four elections
Map of the last Senate election in each state
Map based on last Senate election in each state as of 2024

Starting with the 2000 United States presidential election, the terms "red state" and "blue state" have referred to US states whose voters vote predominantly for one party—the Republican Party in red states and the Democratic Party in blue states—in presidential and other statewide elections.[1][2] By contrast, states where the vote fluctuates between the Democratic and Republican candidates are known as "swing states" or "purple states". Examining patterns within states reveals that the reversal of the two parties' geographic bases has happened at the state level, but it is more complicated locally, with urban-rural divides associated with many of the largest changes.[3]

Incumbent senators. Red and blue denote two Republican or two Democratic senators respectively. Purple states denote one Republican and one Democrat from the state. Light blue stripes denote one Independent senator (who caucuses with the Democrats).

All states contain considerable numbers of both liberal and conservative voters (i.e., they are "purple") and only appear blue or red on the electoral map because of the winner-take-all system used by most states in the Electoral College.[4] However, the perception of some states as "blue" and some as "red" was reinforced by a degree of partisan stability from election to election—from the 2016 presidential election to the 2020 presidential election, only five states changed "color"; and as of 2020, 35 out of 50 states have voted for the same party in every presidential election since the red-blue terminology was popularized in 2000, with only 15 having swung between the 2000 presidential election and the 2020 election. Although many red states and blue states stay in the same category for long periods, they may also switch from blue to red or from red to blue over time.

  1. ^ Battaglio, Stephen (November 3, 2016). "When red meant Democratic and blue was Republican. A brief history of TV electoral maps". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  2. ^ Enda, Jodi (November 2, 2020). "When Republicans Were Blue and Democrats Were Red". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  3. ^ Gelman, Andrew (2014). "The Twentieth-Century Reversal: How Did the Republican States Switch to the Democrats and Vice Versa?". Statistics and Public Policy. 1: 1–5. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.309.9174. doi:10.1080/2330443X.2013.856147. S2CID 154240829.
  4. ^ "Most Americans live in Purple America, not Red or Blue America". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 9, 2016.