Party Animals

Party Animals U.S. political party affiliation among likely voters Party Affiliation July, 2012 A Note About Color Democrat (34.0%6) Independent (31.1%) Republican (34.9%) Red has been associated with left wing politics since the use of red during the French Revolution (1789–1799). Historically, radical republicans and socialists first adopted a red flag in the 1848 French revolution - which reinvigorated the ideals of the first uprising, in 1789 - to represent "the blood of angry workers," and it is still widely seen as the color of the political left. Party Affiliation July, 2011 Democrat (34.8%) In the UK, the Conservative Party's colors were originally those of the union jack: red, white and blue. But when Labour staked its claim to red, the Tories edged towards blue alone as its party hue. Blue has been almost universally adopted as the color of conservative interests globally with two notable exceptions, Switzerland and the United States. Independent (32.1%) 34% 35% Republican (33.1%) ****** of Americans* of Americans" DEMOCRAT INDEPENDENT REPUBLICAN Before the 2000 presidential election, there was no universally recognized color scheme to represent the political parties in the United States. In fact, the color scheme was often reversed, in line with historical European associations. The parties themselves had no official colors, with candidates variously using either or both of the national color palette of reds and blues. Party Affiliation July, 2010 Democrat (35.4%) Independent (32.8%) Republican (31.8%) By 1996, color schemes were relatively mixed, as CNN, CBS, ABC, and The New York Times referred to Democratic states with the color blue and Republican ones as red, while TIME and The Washington Post used an opposite scheme. In the days following the 2000 election, whose outcome was unclear for some time after election day, major media outlets began conforming to the same color scheme. Some have contended that his coordination was more willful than previously indicated. The term "red" having potent historical implications in the US along with the negative connotation in the financial sector indicating "deficit" or"loss." Be that as it may, it is the purpose of this diagram to return the colors and connotations to their international and historical norms. Speaking of historical norms, the political terms Left and Right were coined during the French Revolution, referring to the seating arrangement in the Estates General: those who sat on the left generally supported the radical changes of the revolution, including the creation of a republic and secularization, while those on the right were supportive of the traditional institutions of the Old Regime. Communist Socialist Democrat Independent Republican Conservative Nationalist * Data gathered from a survey of 15,000 adults identified as likely voters as of August 1, 2012. © Jon Buckley 2012 | Buckley Typographics | http://www.jonbuckley.com **** **** *****