Changes

Increasingly, red and blue were the two main colors used for the major parties, as this was what was used in Great Britain for some time, although in their case red stood for the left-leaning party (Labour) and blue was for the Conservatives. In the 1984 election, CBS did use red for Republican states and blue for Democratic states, but other networks did not use the same color scheme. By the 1996 election, networks such as CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, and other smaller, local outlets used different coloring schemes, and sometimes changed them in different election, to indicate which states are likely or did vote for given parties.

In the 2000 election, major television outlets and newspapers such as the <i>New York Times</i> began to use the same color in their coverage. What made the colors, perhaps this time, become retained in people's minds was the lengthy process in which the 2000 election was resolved and the non-stop coverage of the process. With the election effectively lasting until the Supreme Court deciding its outcome weeks later after the election, viewers on television and readers in newspapers increasingly saw the color schemes chosen as the colors representative the main parties. Red was chosen for Republicans by outlets given that the word's first letter is the same as Republican. This then gave blue as the main color for Democrats. After the prolonged election, and controversial results, viewers and readers became accustomed to the coloring scheme used throughout the 2000 election, leading to its continual use in later elections as voters even began to expect these colors.<ref>For more on how the 2000 election has influenced political discourse since then, see: Wayne, S. J., & Wilcox, C. (Eds.). (2002). <i>The election of the century and what it tells us about the future of American politics</i>. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe. </ref>