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I couldn't resist putting a "Canadian view" forward on this question :-)
First fo all, if you have a copy of the following map, check it out....
Results of the 35th Federal Election, October 25th, 1993
National Atlas Special Map Series No. 1`
Provisional (...reflects results received by 06:00, October 26, 1993)
Produced by Surveys, Mapping , and Remote Sensing Sector; Natural Resources
Canada (Ottawa)
The results are coloured depending upon the political party that won the
seat, as well as the plurality of the result (darker shading if you win by
more than 8%, lighter shading if less than 8%).
The Colours are: Red for the Libreral Party
(This has a bearing on the US colours)
Blue for the Progressive Conservative Party
Yellow for the New Democratic Party
(This colour may have something to do with the
historic fact that the original founding of the
party took place on the Canadian Prairies ....wheat ? Yellow
??.....the most predominant colour used by the NDP has recently
been orange)
Green for the Reform Party
(In this case, Green does not denote a Ralph Nader
quality( i.e. Green Party in the US Presidential
election), but the colour used by the Reform Party
...the choice of green by the party in this case was made to denote a sense
of change and "freshness" because the reform party is
the youngest federal party in Canada)
and Purple (?? I can't figure that one out ??) for
the Bloc Quebecois
(The Bloc is now "Her Majesty's Official
Opposition"....that's Canada for you ! We have a
party as the Queen's "Loyal Opposition" which has, as it's primary
policy goal, to see Quebec secede from Canada !...One would
think that an official colour to represent this
party would be a lighter shade of blue as in the
Quebec Provincial flag..)
Now, back to the US !
Many political geography texts that touch upon cartography, AND cartography
texts that touch upon politics, suggest that coulours are used to denote
many things; they are also designed to convey very pointed suggestions.
Red has often been associated with the left wing. It is the colour of
choice for communists; which is on the far left. The Liberal Party of
Canada is considered a slightly left of center party, BUT the red colour has
been used by the liberals in recent history because it is an "official "
colour...it is the colour of our flag.
The Democratic Party is, in US terms, considered to be a party of
"liberals", and it is thought to be more leftist. That may explain the red
colour. In Canada, we tend to view the US Democratic Party as more centrist
or even a little right of center sometimes - but that is in compared to our
political scene...which tends to be more left leaning on average when
compared to the US (we still have universal health care).
The Republican Party is blue just like the Canadian Conservative Party is
blue. Blue denotes certain conservative feelings...it is a conservative
colour ("Blue suits", "blue chip stock ").
If memory serves me correctly, the conservative party in the UK has used
blue as a more or less official colour for the last century.
However, the Reform Party of Canada is even more right wing than the
Conservative Party of Canada....but (for those in the US), you may be
interested to note, that compared to the US view of "conservative", the
Canadian spectrum falls short of that line. Our average conservative here
would probably feel just as welcome in your Democratic Party as in any
other. And at a recent meeting between the Reform Party leader and Newt G.,
Newt was suprised at how liberal our most right wing politican was.
So...sorry to write on about this...but the short answer to your question is
that whatever colours are used to depict a party on an election map (be they
official of not) you can be certain there will be some connection to (1) the
political spectrum, and (2) the various other "histories" associated with
those colours.
The question nagging in my mind is...do the political parties (in Canada OR
the US) have a say in what colours are used to depict the results ?
Cheers
James
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Do the Republican and Democratic parties have standard map colors? I am
>looking at a choropleth map of the '96 US election results. The
>"democratic" states are red and the "republican" states are blue. Are
>these standard party colors?
>
>
>
>
>
James Boxall (Map Curator)
Map Collection, Science Services
Killam Library, Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada B3H 4M8
(t) 902-494-3757
(f) 902-494-2062
(e) [log in to unmask]
http://www.library.dal.ca/science/mapcoll.html
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"What in observation is loose and vague
is in information deceptive and treacherous"
Francis Bacon, 1621
Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes.
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