23 Why is the Republican Party or the right in the US associated with the color red. Here in Europe red was communism and is still the color of the social democrats. I am always confused, because red and blue are reversed in America. I despise the political color red, it has always stood for communism. (www.ibtimes.com) posted 245 days ago by EuropeNeedsFixing 245 days ago by EuropeNeedsFixing +23 / -0 Why Is The Color Red Associated With Communism? The color red appears to have a long positive association in Russian culture – from long before the rise of Communism. 35 comments share 35 comments share save hide report block hide replies
The standardized red and blue only seems to date to the 2000 election. Prior to that each network/newspaper tended to use different colors.
Here's Clinton's winning map using red. https://web.archive.org/web/20061122124004/http://www.princeton.edu/~petehill/time-election-map-1996.jpg
In 2000, the election was on hold and the MAP was on TV all the time....so some time after the elction, the networks standardized the colors and people started talked about red states and blue states.