blue state, n. and adj.
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈblu steɪt/, U.S. /ˈblu ˌsteɪt/
Etymology: < blue adj. + state n.
With reference to the colour used on maps in televised coverage of the 2000 U.S. presidential election to distinguish the states won by the Democratic candidate, Al Gore, with red being used for the states won by the Republican candidate. The colour designation is an arbitrary one, and indeed the attribution of the two colours had been the reverse in media coverage of various elections prior to 2000.
U.S. Polit.
A. n.
A state (projected to be) won by the Democratic candidate in a presidential election. More generally: a Democratic state; a state which tends to vote Democrat. Cf. red state n. 2.
2000 NBC News: Today Show (transcript) (Nexis) 30 Oct., (Electoral map of the United States shown.) Lauer: The red states we have here, you have going..for George Bush, the blue states for Al Gore.
2000 Washington Post 11 Nov. a27/1 Why not let Gore be the president of the United States of America to include all the blue states east of the Mississippi?
2004 N.Y. Mag. 9 Aug. 22/2 New York has always felt like a nation apart. In a country that grows ever redder, it is the bluest of blue cities in one of the bluest of blue states, with the eccentrics to match.
2008 B. Obama in N.Y. Times (Electronic ed.) 7 May a1 The attempts to play on our fears and exploit our differences,..to slice and dice this country into red states and blue states.
B. adj.
Of, relating to, or characteristic of blue states or their residents; Democratic.
2001 Time 5 Mar. 67/3 My blue-state commute to New York City.
2001 N.Y. Observer (Nexis) 26 Nov. 5 Until 9/11, arguments around the dinner table tended toward mild differences among us blue-state types on such issues as Middle East policy.
2006 ‘B. Allan’ Antiques Roadkill ix. 169 Spare me the ‘Christian’ values. You're red state, I'm blue state, and never the twain shall meet.
2008 Forward (Nexis) 28 Nov. 9 In the blue-state liberal narrative, the Obama victory is as significant as a divine revelation.
Derivatives
ˈblue stater n. a resident of a blue state.
2000 OC Weekly (Nexis) 15 Dec. 20 Meanwhile, the *blue staters periodically display a similar fascination (and confusion) about what the reds are up to.
2006 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 5 Oct. b5/4 A few years ago it seemed possible that red-staters and blue-staters would never agree on anything, especially not the war in Iraq.
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