#HTE

Democrats vs. Republicans is Not Blue vs. Red: The Role of Color in U.S. Political Logos

Happy Election Day. This morning I voted at my local polling station, which is in an agricultural community center (I live in farm country). The lawn was festooned with signs for both the Democratic and Republican candidates for my congressional district–and surprisingly, both signs were overwhelmingly blue in color.

This might seem puzzling as Democrats are associated with blue, Republicans with red. But the Center for American Politics and Design, after archiving every campaign logo for these 2018 Congressional elections, have uncovered patterns that explain which party opts for which color based on local conditions. Both parties, it turns out, actually prefer to use blue:

A few outliers, primarily Democrats, will opt for more unusual colors like green and purple:

For some reason, the majority of candidates who go for purple are women:

And orange political logos, in my opinion, don’t look very political at all, reminding me instead of restaurant signs:

CAPD has uncovered some logos where the designer, perhaps unintentionally, took a little inspiration from corporate logos:

Lastly, for those of you who have successfully committed voter fraud, please share your story in the comments!