males made up McCain's largest constituency. 2016 exit pollsSource: NYT exit polls: 24,537 surveyedSource: CNN exit polls: 24,558 surveyed Table of presidential elections by states since 1972 : Split their votes. Reaction United States The "Democratic blue" and "Republican red" color scheme is now part of the lexicon of American journalism. Neither party national committee has officially accepted these color designations, though informal use by each party is becoming common. Both parties have since adopted logos that use their respective colors (a blue "D" for Democrats and a red "GOP" for Republicans). National conventions for both major parties increasingly feature the parties' respective colors, from the colors emphasized on convention podiums to the color conventioneers can be seen wearing on the delegate floor. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also alluded the color scheme when it launched a national "Red to Blue Program" in 2006. The scheme has found acceptance and implementation from the U.S. federal government as the Federal Election Commission report for the 2004 presidential election uses the red-Republican and blue-Democratic scheme for its electoral map. International The choice of colors in this divide may appear counter-intuitive to non-American observers, as in most countries, red is associated with socialist, communist, or social democratic parties, while blue is associated with conservative parties. For example, the major center-right conservative parties in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Italy, Spain and France all use blue or its shades (whether officially or unofficially) whereas the major socialist, communist, or social democratic parties in each country are associated with red. If the U.S. followed such a pattern, blue would be used for the Republicans and red for the Democrats. However, the current U.S. scheme has become so ingrained in the American election system that foreign sources who cover U.S. elections, such as the BBC, Der Spiegel and El Mundo follow with the red-Republican, blue-Democratic scheme for U.S. elections. See also Blue wall (U.S. politics) Wave elections in the United States Jesusland map Political culture of the United States Political ideologies in the United States Cook Partisan Voting Index Swing state Southernization Southern strategy United States presidential election maps on Wikimedia Commons References Notes Further reading External links Choosing colors based on incumbent vs. challenger victory from November, 2004 The Honky Tonk Gap: Country Music, Red State Identity, and the Election of 2004 McPherson, Tara. "Re-imagining the Red States: New Directions for Southern