----------------------------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 [log in to unmask]