Red States? So called in tribute to all the rednecks who live there?

Question

Or is there some other reason?

If so, I'd love to hear what it is.

Answer 1

heh heh heh... clever.

Blue states? So called in tribute to the political blue-balls experienced in every election? (so close, yet so far away...)

Answer 2

During U.S. national elections, media outlets commonly display election results on a map of U.S. states—with each state assigned a color based on which party's candidate won the state, as nearly all states award the sum of their electoral votes in a winner-take-all contest (the exceptions being Maine and Nebraska). Because the United States has a de facto two-party system, the national colors of red and blue came to be reserved for the two major parties. Third-party candidates rarely win any states, but media outlets are prepared with other arbitrary colors for noteworthy third party showings, such as green for the Green party and white for Reform party.

The choice of colors in this divide is counterintuitive to many international observers, as throughout the world, especially Europe and Canada, red is commonly the designated colour for parties representing labor interests, and blue for conservative. While the Democratic Party tends to represent labor interests, the Republican Party tends to represent the interests of employers and businesses.

Elephants Are Red, Donkeys Are Blue

Answer 3

Nothing to do with rednecks.

Just that in maps detailing what states voted for who, Republican states are generally represented by the color red, and democratic states are represented by the color blue. Thus the term "Blue states" (less popular, but used on occasion.)

Here's an example of a (3-d) county by county breakdown of the 04' presidential election.

Answer 4

Republican=red

Democrat=blue

Answer 5

Red stands for republican
Blue is for Democrats!