Robert Kuttner: “Even states that are heavily Republican have plenty of Democratic voters, not to mention independents and swing voters. So there is no such thing as a ‘red’ state. It’s better and more accurate (and conducive to better understanding) to use terms like ‘Republican-leaning or ‘heavily Democratic.'”
“The current color-coding only dates to the 2000 election. Before 2000, networks did use color-coded maps, but varied them and were more likely to use red for Democrat, blue for Republican. In 2000, Tim Russert began coding Democrats as blue, supposedly to avoid any taint that Democrats were Reds.”
“Whatever the origin of the practice, it’s dumb, sloppy shorthand, with real negative effects. If the mainstream press wants to avoid being a target for Donald Trump’s ‘enemy of the people’ slurs, it can start by cleaning up its own act.”
Save to Favorites