Yes. I knew offhand that the colors used for parties were basically random, although I'd also heard an apparently false claim that there was a bias towards using one color for incumbent parties and another for challengers. I did, however, look it up to see what colors were used for Reagan. Apparently NBC was consistent in using blue for Republicans and red for Democrats, intentionally adopting the UK's convention of blue Tories and red Labour, but there was no clear standard for anyone else until the 2000 election, when it stuck because of how long the process was dragged out on account of electoral rigging and the judicial coup.
I suppose the bit about the influence of a particular news commentary clip may not be 100% correct, but that was a part of the broader discourse that cemented the color associations in the public conscience.
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Yes. I knew offhand that the colors used for parties were basically random, although I'd also heard an apparently false claim that there was a bias towards using one color for incumbent parties and another for challengers. I did, however, look it up to see what colors were used for Reagan. Apparently NBC was consistent in using blue for Republicans and red for Democrats, intentionally adopting the UK's convention of blue Tories and red Labour, but there was no clear standard for anyone else until the 2000 election, when it stuck because of how long the process was dragged out on account of electoral rigging and the judicial coup.
I suppose the bit about the influence of a particular news commentary clip may not be 100% correct, but that was a part of the broader discourse that cemented the color associations in the public conscience.