----------------------------Original message----------------------------
The British have a similar colour scheme:
Conservative=Blue
Labour=Red
Liberal/Social Democrat/Liberal Deomocrat=Yellow
at least when I was there last.
 
The network TV news ABC/NBC/CBS have not been consistent.  I remember
President Reagan's victory in 1980 when NBC colored the map blue (for
Republican), but ABC colored it red.  I think it was the same in 1984.
 
 
 According to James Boxall: .
. ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
. 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
. ---------------------------------------------------------------------
. "What in observation is loose and vague
. is in information deceptive and treacherous"
. Francis Bacon, 1621
.
. Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes.
.
 
 
 
Matthew Gilmore
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