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TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped.
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Suck_on_my_Presence
lemmy.world
Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-07
Posted:   Subject: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote

In America, the conservative party is red and the liberal is blue, but in Canada the liberal party is red whole the conservatives are blue.

78   Original
A_Union_of_Kobolds
lemmy.world
A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-09-20
#2 Posted: · edited   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

America does everything back-assward. Red is the color of labor and socialism, historically.

30
radiofreebc
lemmy.world
radiofreebc@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-29
#3 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

And in Australia, the Liberals are the Conservatives.

27
FriendOfDeSoto
startrek.website

FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website
Joined: 2023-06-12
#4 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

The US didn't use colours for political leanings until 2000 when this whole blue, red, and purple terminology started in earnest. And using red for the conservative side is certainly unique.

Red has traditionally been the colour of socialism/social democrats. All the other colour assignments tend to vary by country. But blue or black or thereabouts tends to be conservative. Green introduced itself in the 70s.

Canada is just normal in terms of "political colours."

12
Antagnostic
lemmy.world
Antagnostic@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-03
#5 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

And in Australia, the Liberals are the Conservatives.

This seems like it should be expected.

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Proprietary_Blend
lemmy.world
Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-12-25
#6 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Oh dear

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Today
lemmy.world
Today@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-14
#7 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

And in Australia, the Liberals are the Conservatives.

Because they're upside down?

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MadMadBunny
lemmy.ca
MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-12
#8 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

In Quebec, almost all parties are shades of blue…

6
someguy3
lemmy.world
someguy3@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-04
#9 Posted: · edited   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

IIRC a US journalist invented it for the US. Republicans Red because they both start with R.

6
Blue
lemmy.world
RedIce25@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-20
#10 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Isn't american party colors backwards compared to most western countries?

75
corsicanguppy
lemmy.ca
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-12
#11 Posted: · edited   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

In Quebec, almost all parties are shades of blue…

Not a coincidence.

Except the federal liberals also serve Quebec. Do they remember?

2
Trex
lemmy.world
Trex202@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-01-03
#12 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

And in Australia, the Liberals are the Conservatives.

Liberally Conservative and Conservatively Conservative

4
leadore
lemmy.world

leadore@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-07-09
#13 Posted: · edited   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

America does everything back-assward. Red is the color of labor and socialism, historically.

The color assignments happened by chance. The networks used to arbitrarily choose red or blue or even some other color for each party to show them on the maps, and one network might use different colors than another. Then one year (2000), a year that they were showing R's as red and D's as blue, the colors stuck and stayed that way--probably because the counting went on for so long that year.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-republicans-became-red-democrats-became-blue-104176297/

There are plenty of articles online about the subject. I'm old so I remember it myself.

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ilinamorato
lemmy.world
ilinamorato@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-09-27
#14 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

I was surprised by this, too, moving to New Zealand. Down here National (the center centre-right party) is a light blue color, while Labour is a red-orange. But then there's ACT (further right than National), which uses a pink color, and NZ First (even further right than ACT), which uses a dark blue color.

Incidentally, it's an election year here, too; and from what I've gathered, NZ First (the furthest-right of the major parties in New Zealand) somehow manages to still be further left than American Republicans on most issues. National is further left than American Democrats.

12
JustPlainDave
lemmy.zip
JustPlainDave@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-09-09
#15 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Ours weren't set until 1992, I think. Blue used to mean incumbent and red was for the challenger.(I may have that backwards.)

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Otter
lemmy.ca

otter@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-05
#16 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Isn't american party colors backwards compared to most western countries?

Yep

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_colour

Parties in different countries with similar ideologies sometimes use similar colours. As an example, the colour red symbolizes ideologies further to the left of the political spectrum, sometimes referred to as left-wing politics. In some countries this has also been associated with Communism (leading to the use of such terms as "Red Army" and "Red Scare"). The colour blue is often used for conservatism, politics that lie further to the right of the political spectrum, and thus referred to as "right of centre" or "right wing" politics. In more recent years, the colour yellow has been commonly associated with liberalism and right-libertarianism, while the colour green has an association with Green politics so-named after the ideology's choice of that colour and concern with environmental issues, also commonly described as being green.[2][3]

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October
lemmy.world

edgemaster72@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-16
#17 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Isn't american party colors backwards compared to most western countries?

Makes sense, America is pretty backwards compared to most western countries, so might as well flip the colors

13
gedaliyah
lemmy.world

gedaliyah@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-15
#18 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Isn't american party colors backwards compared to most western countries?

Yeah, it's a whole thing about neither party wanting to be red during the cold war so news outlets would randomize it until the 2000 election when cable news was involved. People watched a highly contested election 24 hours a day for weeks and just got used to thinking of red as Republican and blue as Democrat. It stuck ever since.

23
yucandu
lemmy.world
yucandu@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-03-12
#19 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

In America, the conservative party is red and the liberal is blue

I REMEMBER THE BEFORE TIMES! The long long ago! When not all was as it is today...

6
Quilotoa
lemmy.ca
Quilotoa@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-04-01
#20 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Although a Conservative in Canada wouldn't be a Conservative in the US. In Canada they support abortion, socialized medicine and same sex marriages.

1
Default Username
lemmy.dbzer0.com
defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-06-12
#21 Posted: · edited   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Red is the color of blood, and thus is the color of hard labor. America is the one who has it backwards.

4
Starya67
lemmy.world

starlinguk@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-17
#22 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

And in Australia, the Liberals are the Conservatives.

In the Netherlands too, and their colour is orange (VVD).

3
CosmoNova
lemmy.world
CosmoNova@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-18
#23 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Isn't american party colors backwards compared to most western countries?

Yes. This thread is pretty baffling to me to say the least. I wonder if OP is aware there‘s a whole world out there.

16
zikzak025
lemmy.world
zikzak025@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-12-24
#24 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

I dunno, seems fitting to me.

Democrats are a Conservative blue.

Republicans are a Nazi red.

4
0x0
infosec.pub
0x0@infosec.pub
Joined: 2024-05-20
#25 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Yes. This thread is pretty baffling to me to say the least. I wonder if OP is aware there‘s a whole world out there.

Because there is only oil to steal and other governments to topple outside of america

3
TheFrirish
tarte.nuage-libre.fr

TheFrirish@tarte.nuage-libre.fr
Joined: 2025-11-16
#26 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

The color assignments happened by chance. The networks used to arbitrarily choose red or blue or even some other color for each party to show them on the maps, and one network might use different colors than another. Then one year (2000), a year that they were showing R's as red and D's as blue, the colors stuck and stayed that way--probably because the counting went on for so long that year. h...

So they are really that retarded then huh? I believed that they were the right colours until the democrats became the "progressive" and the republicans went full conservative. Because of that switch it reversed the traditional colours of left and right.

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goodguys9
lemmy.ca
goodguys9@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-03-07
#27 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Red is the color of blood, and thus is the color of hard labor. America is the one who has it backwards.

The Liberals are hardly a labour party, I'd say by this metric both of them are backwards.

3
schnurrito
discuss.tchncs.de

schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de
Joined: 2023-06-24
#28 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Yes, and it's the US that is unusual. Red is the historical color of social-democratic, socialist and communist parties.

There is a video explaining the history of US party colors here: https://youtu.be/lgz3p4cEXZU

11
measureyoucanpleasure
piefed.social
measureyoucanpleasure@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-08-24
#29 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

does canada also have only two parties? well, RIP

2
iuseasahibtw
ani.social

iuseasahibtw@ani.social
Joined: 2026-05-11
#30 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Tell the Canadians to unswap them and use the right colors

-1
goodguys9
lemmy.ca
goodguys9@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-03-07
#31 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Although a Conservative in Canada wouldn't be a Conservative in the US. In Canada they support abortion, socialized medicine and same sex marriages.

Provincially the Conservatives are campaigning on privatizing healthcare. They also do not whip votes on abortion rights, and routinely put forward bills to ban it. Some Conservative party members literally met with the U.S admin to ask for support in seceding from Canada.

It may have once been true that a Canadian Conservative would be closer to the Democratic party, but the landscape is changing.

1
Miaou
jlai.lu
Miaou@jlai.lu
Joined: 2023-08-03
#32 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Alternative title: USians use different colours than the rest of the world for political parties.

Y'all afraid of commies but you've never seen the USSR flag?

8
Asfalttikyntaja
sopuli.xyz
Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2025-02-15
#33 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Alternative title: USians use different colours than the rest of the world for political parties. Y'all afraid of commies but you've never seen the USSR flag?

But republicans use American Red.

2
Quilotoa
lemmy.ca
Quilotoa@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-04-01
#34 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Provincially the Conservatives are campaigning on privatizing healthcare. They also do not whip votes on abortion rights, and routinely put forward bills to ban it. Some Conservative party members literally met with the U.S admin to ask for support in seceding from Canada. It may have once been true that a Canadian Conservative would be closer to the Democratic party, but the landscape is changing.

I was going by the National party. Their official stance is that they support abortion. I'm sure there's a wide variety of support among members. There must be a lot of support for it as it's in their platform.

1
Mycatiskai
lemmy.ca
Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-27
#35 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

does canada also have only two parties? well, RIP

We have orange for the NDP, green for the Green, in Quebec they have a color for the Bloc Quebecois but I'm not sure what it is.

Unfortunately I know too well the colors of the Cons because our former idiot of a premier gave up two years of power to call an early election and yesterday broke 100 years record by having the conservatives take BC Canada back.

2
adj
sh.itjust.works
adj@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2024-12-02
#36 Posted: · edited   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

I disagree that US colors are wrong or that we misapply "liberal". The DNC is pro-corporate and dig their heels in on any meaningful reforms for healthcare, workers rights, etc. They correlate to other liberal parties.

The problem is that the only other party of relevance is far right, so we treat the liberals as "left" by comparison. They have some progressives because there is nowhere else to go and have a reasonable chance to get elected or even be on the ballot above the local level.

It's true that the history of the color distinction only goes back to 2000, and the people that made the choice were unlikely to think about it this way, but I think at least the blue is appropriate.

That's also why DSA is red.

In summary, just Overton Window things.

4
ShawiniganHandshake
sh.itjust.works
ShawiniganHandshake@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-08-30
#37 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

We have orange for the NDP, green for the Green, in Quebec they have a color for the Bloc Quebecois but I'm not sure what it is. Unfortunately I know too well the colors of the Cons because our former idiot of a premier gave up two years of power to call an early election and yesterday broke 100 years record by having the conservatives take BC Canada back.

they have a color for the Bloc Quebecois

It's light blue.

1
jobbies
lemmy.zip
jobbies@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-07-21
#38 Posted: · edited   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Uhhh actually US is the backwards one here. In pretty much every other country red is for lefties and blue is for pedo/billionaire sympathisers.

5
jobbies
lemmy.zip
jobbies@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-07-21
#39 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

But republicans use American Red.

Symbolises the blood of immigrants and trans folk (probably).

3
jobbies
lemmy.zip
jobbies@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-07-21
#40 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

IIRC a US journalist invented it for the US. Republicans Red because they both start with R.

Ahh. Hence why the Bdemocrats are blue.

1
Default Username
lemmy.dbzer0.com
defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-06-12
#41 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

The Liberals are hardly a labour party, I'd say by this metric both of them are backwards.

I'm talking from a more historical context rather than from a modern context. There are not too many actually pro-worker parties in the global north these days.

1
someguy3
lemmy.world
someguy3@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-04
#42 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

Ahh. Hence why the Bdemocrats are blue.

Could have beeen diolet.

1
ARMADILLOMANIA
lemmy.today
ARMADILLOMANIA@lemmy.today
Joined: 2026-08-22
#43 Posted:   Subject: Re: TIL the American and Canadian political party colors are swapped. Quote Reply

But republicans use American Red.

*Coca cola red

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