Red States

THE TERM red states denotes states that disproportionately support the Republican Party, especially for president. Republicans dominate the red states of the south, much of the farm belt, and the mountain west. States in which the Democratic Party is dominant, on the other hand, are deemed blue states. Though the red state/blue state terminology is relatively new, regional differences have long marked the American political landscape. The perception of a divide between red states and blue states largely rests on the belief that the political divisions within the states are relatively stable and that red states and blue states are becoming more polarized politically.

At the presidential level, this has become the case; due to the winner-take-all nature of the Electoral College, relatively few states (about one-third of all states in the 2004 presidential election) are considered swing states that could potentially go red or blue. This is a noticeable shift from a generation ago. In 1976, for example, 20 states with 299 electoral votes were decided by a margin of less than five percents. In 2004, only 10 states with 106 electoral votes were decided by a margin of less than five percents.

The red state/blue state dichotomy rests, to a large degree, on the premise that red states are culturally different from blue states, and that this explains much of the political differences between red and blue states. Cultural divisions unquestionably impact the differences in political attitudes in the United States. Researchers find a widening and deepening of a cultural values-based realignment of the American electorate. In red states, moral traditionalism has exerted a stronger influence on vote choice through party identification. The result is a process of realignment in the electorate along a moral traditionalism divide, as states with more morally traditional citizens become more Republican. The growing importance of values and the cultural divide has served to nationalize citizens' vote choices, with voters more willing to cast their ballots on the basis of national issues that usually are only thought to affect presidential vote choice. As a result, the red states have become “redder”—that is, more Republican. Since the 1960s, cultural issues have increasingly become the focal point differentiating the parties, with a culturally traditional Republican Party dominant in red states and a culturally progressive Democratic Party dominant in blue states.

The defining characteristic differentiating red states from blue states may be religion. The religious polarization among red states and blue states is associated with a growing schism on cultural issues such as abortion, women's rights, and gay rights. The more religious an individual, the more likely he or she is to vote for, and identify as, a Republican. This has not always been the case; in 1960, for example, regular churchgoers were actually more Democratic in their vote for president. Committed Evangelicals, who have distinct political attitudes and who live disproportionately in the red states of the south, have steadily ascended within the Republican Party since the 1970s. Today, more than 70 percent of white evangelicals align themselves with the Republican Party. As the religious right has increasingly influenced the Republican Party, the base of the party—the red states—has moved to the south. This, in turn, has influenced how the American polity is viewed. A popular post-2004 election map that circulated on the internet had the United States divided in two: “The United States of Canada” (blue states joined to Canada) and “Jesusland,” representing red states.

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