Presidential elections in the 21st century are associated with the red, and blue state divide represented on political maps were the states with the majority to vote for Republicans are colored in red, and the states where citizens prefer to vote for Democrats are colored in blue. The reference to the modern red-blue map became popular in 2000 because this variant of the map was promoted in the media to demonstrate the preferences of the US voters.
However, the red-blue map can serve only as of the demonstration tool because it cannot be used to explain the aspects of the political geography and reasons for red states to vote for Republicans and blue states to vote for Democrats.
Nevertheless, the red and blue state divide is discussed as the effective representative tool to demonstrate the differences in the US voters’ visions because it usually illustrates the support for Republicans in the West and South of the country and the support for Democrats in the Northeast and on the West Coast.
There are no historic explanations to the use of the colors to divide the states because, during different historical stages, various colors were used to mark the states.
The association of red states with Republicans and blue states with Democrats is traditionally explained in different ways, focusing on the connection between revolutionary ideas and the red color and democratic ideas and the blue color. There is also the association of Republicans and the red color based on the words’ first letter.