Blue wall (United States)
The "blue wall" is a term used by political pundits to refer to the 18 U.S. states and the District of Columbia that the Democratic Party won in each presidential election from 1992 to 2012. George W. Bush, the only Republican president elected during this time, was able to narrowly win the electoral college in 2000 (271) and 2004 (286) only by winning enough states outside of the blue wall to defeat his Democratic opponents, Al Gore and John Kerry, respectively.
During the 2016 presidential election, many political pundits speculated that the "blue wall" made Hillary Clinton a heavy favorite to win the electoral college.[1][2] However, Republican nominee Donald Trump was able to achieve narrow victories in the three blue wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, as well as an electoral vote from Maine, a fourth blue wall state. He was consequently elected president with 306 electoral college votes (excluding two faithless electors).
In the 2020 United States presidential election, Democratic nominee Joe Biden defeated President Trump by reclaiming Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania for his party.[3] Trump's lone breakthrough in the "blue wall" in 2020 was the one electoral vote from Maine, which he again won. Biden won 306 electoral votes.[4]
The term "red wall", or "red sea", is less commonly used to refer to states that Republicans have consistently won in previous election cycles; however, most of these states represent significantly fewer electoral college votes than the blue wall. These terms refer to the colors that have become associated with the Democratic and Republican parties in the 21st century.
Origin
Ronald Brownstein claims to have coined the term "blue wall" in 2009.[5] After the 2012 presidential election, Paul Steinhauser called "blue wall […] the cluster of eastern, Midwest and western states that have traditionally gone Democratic."[6] The earliest description of the forces creating the blue wall comes from a Houston Chronicle blogger, Chris Ladd. A Republican, Ladd wrote in November 2014 that the seemingly impressive Republican win in the 2014 midterm elections had overshadowed another trend apparent in the results – a demographic and geographic collapse.[7]
For Republicans looking for ways that the party can once again take the lead in building a nationally relevant governing agenda, the 2014 election is a prelude to a disaster. Understanding this trend begins with a stark graphic. Behold the Blue Wall.
The blue wall referred to a perceived Democratic demographic lock on the Electoral College resulting from the Republican Party's narrowing focus on the interests of white, rural, and Southern voters. According to Ladd, the presence of the blue wall means "a minimally effective Democratic candidate" is all but assured of winning 257 electoral votes, just 13 short of the threshold needed to win the Electoral College and the presidency.[7] Ladd's analysis became popular when MSNBC commentator Lawrence O'Donnell featured it on a post-election episode of his show The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell.[8]
A similar "red wall/sea", behind which lie states solidly Republican, has also been posited to exist.[by whom?] But, having fewer electoral college votes, it would be theoretically easier for a Democratic presidential candidate to win without breaching it, as had been done in 2012.
States behind the blue wall
Behind this "blue wall" lay states, many carrying a relatively high number of electoral votes, which appeared to be solidly behind the Democratic Party, at least on the national level, and which a Republican presidential candidate appeared likely to have to write off, seeking a total of 270 electoral votes from other regions. States behind this wall lay generally in the Northeastern United States, the West Coast of the United States, and some of the Great Lakes states. In each of the six presidential election cycles prior to 2016, the Democratic Party had won 18 of these states (as well as the District of Columbia), totaling 238 of the necessary 270 votes need to win. The "big three" Democratic stronghold states include California, New York, and Illinois.
States falling behind this blue wall generally included those the Democrats had carried since the 1992 presidential election until the 2016 presidential election[6][9] that included (in order of decreasing population and followed by current number of electoral votes): California (54), New York (28), Illinois (19), Pennsylvania (19), Michigan (15), New Jersey (14), Washington (12), Massachusetts (11), Maryland (10), Minnesota (10), Wisconsin (10), Oregon (8), Connecticut (7), Hawaii (4), Maine (4), Rhode Island (4), Delaware (3), and Vermont (3), as well as Washington, D.C. (3); this is a total of 238 votes. Had Al Gore won New Hampshire (4) in 2000 or if John Kerry had won New Mexico (5) or Iowa (7) in 2004, those states could also have become part of the blue wall states since 1992; New Mexico and New Hampshire would further support the Democratic nominee through 2016 and 2020, while Iowa would not in either.
Ronald Reagan's landslide re-election in 1984 carried all states except for Minnesota, which last voted Republican with Richard Nixon in 1972; and the District of Columbia, which has voted for the Democratic candidate in every election since it was admitted to the electoral college for the 1964 election. As such, the blue wall began to materialize with the 1988 United States presidential election; states that voted solely for Democratic Presidents since 1988 were New York, Washington, Massachusetts, Wisconsin[a], Oregon, Hawaii, and Rhode Island. The remainder of the blue wall was built in the 1992 United States presidential election: California, Illinois, Pennsylvania[a], Michigan[a], New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, Maine, Delaware, and Vermont.
2016: First breach of the blue wall
The Democrats' "lock" on these states had been called into question between 2012 and 2016, as several had been competitive in recent elections, and many had Republicans currently holding elected statewide office, generally either senator or governor.[10] Blue wall states with a Republican senator included Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Maine. Those with a Republican governor included Massachusetts, Maryland, and Michigan. In addition to these 18 states, three others, Iowa, New Hampshire, and New Mexico, had only voted for the Republican once in the same six election cycles, giving their votes to George W. Bush in either 2000 or 2004 by a margin of no more than 10,059 votes, whilst Oregon saw Bush lose by only 6,765 votes in 2000. If included in the total, the votes behind the blue wall numbered 257, just 13 short of what is needed to win. In 2016, the blue wall showed some cracks, and went down from 242 electoral votes to 195. Some in the mainstream media did, however, suspect the Democrats might lose Pennsylvania.
Nate Silver had criticized the idea of the blue wall, pointing to a similar "red wall/red sea" of states that voted Republican from 1968 to 1988. He argued that the blue wall simply represented a "pretty good run" in elections, and that relatively minor gains in the popular vote could flip some of its states to Republican.[11] This was seen in the 2016 election, where voters from manufacturing states traditionally behind the blue wall voted for Donald Trump, providing him the victory in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Maine's 2nd congressional district.[12] Others have also posited that the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin had never definitively been "safe" for the Democratic Party, citing the close margins in those states in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections and opining that the outsized margins of victory secured by Barack Obama in the elections of 2008 and 2012 may have created a false impression of their safety for Democratic candidates.
2020: Resurgence of the blue wall
During the 2020 United States presidential election, Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. However, Biden carried these states only by 0.5–3 point margins, a considerable underperformance compared to Obama's margins in these states in 2008 and 2012. Long-term trends seem less favorable to Democrats in these states as they all voted to the right of the national average and many working-class white voters there have been moving towards the Republicans.[13][14]
Biden also broke into the red wall/sea by winning Arizona, Georgia, and the 2nd congressional district of Nebraska.[15][16][17] However, Maine's 2nd congressional district voted for Donald Trump. Pundits saw former battleground states such as Colorado and Virginia becoming solidly Democratic-leaning after the 2020 election, partially as a result of demographic patterns. Biden won both of these states by more than 10% in 2020.[14]
2024: Second breach of the blue wall
![[icon]](/enwiki/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2024) |
During the 2024 United States presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump secured the battleground states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.[18][19]
Red sea
The states which Republicans have won in the last eleven elections (from 1980 to 2020) are Texas (40), Alabama (9), South Carolina (9), Oklahoma (7), Mississippi (6), Utah (6), Kansas (6), Nebraska (4) (but not Nebraska's 2nd congressional district), Idaho (4), South Dakota (3), North Dakota (3), Alaska (3), and Wyoming (3), giving a total of 103 votes. Additionally, Tennessee (11), Missouri (10), Kentucky (8), Louisiana (8), Arkansas (6), West Virginia (4), and Montana (4) have been won by Republicans in the last six elections (from 2000 to 2020), making more recent additions to the red wall/sea, bringing the total electoral votes up to 154. Other states with a 10-out-of-11 (from 1980 to 2020) Republican record include North Carolina (16) and Indiana (11), whose 27 electoral votes added to the 154 of the preceding twenty red sea states make for a total of 181 electoral votes, although North Carolina is usually a swing state that leans slightly towards Republicans, enough to prevent Democrats from winning it except for Obama when he narrowly won the state in 2008.
Former red wall/sea states include Georgia[b] and Arizona,[c] which had been won by the Republicans in eight of the nine elections from 1984 to 2016, but were narrowly won by the Democrats in 2020 and are now considered swing states.
In presidential elections
Presidential votes in blue wall states since 1876:
- Key
| Democratic Party nominee |
| Republican Party nominee |
| Third-party nominee[l] |
Bold denotes candidates elected as president
See also
- Bible Belt
- Blue wall (British politics)
- Jesusland map
- Left Coast
- Political culture of the United States
- Red states and blue states
- Red wall (British politics)
- Rust Belt
- Sixth Party System
- Solid South
- Sun Belt
- Swing state
Explanatory notes
- ^ a b c Until Donald Trump won the state in 2016.
- ^ Bill Clinton won the state in 1992.
- ^ Bill Clinton won the state in 1996.
- ^ The District of Columbia did not vote in presidential elections until 1964, after ratification of the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- ^ Hawaii was not a state until 1959 and did not vote in presidential elections until 1960.
- ^ Washington was not a state until 1889 and did not vote in presidential elections until 1892.
- ^ Parker won seven of Maryland’s eight electoral votes, with the other going to Roosevelt, whose highest elector actually received 51 more votes than Parker’s
- ^ Taft’s highest elector actually received 605 more votes than Bryan’s, but of the top eight electors six were pledged to Bryan.
- ^ Clinton won Maine's statewide vote, but Trump won one of the state's four electoral votes. Since the 1972 election, Maine has awarded two electoral votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote, with one vote going to the winner in each congressional district.
- ^ Biden won Maine's statewide vote, but Trump won one of the state's four electoral votes.
- ^ Harris won Maine's statewide vote, but Trump won one of the state's four electoral votes. Since the 1972 election, Maine has awarded two electoral votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote, with one vote going to the winner in each congressional district.
- ^ These were all named nationally as the “Progressive Party”, though the 1924 version was not a continuation of the 1912 one.
References
- ^ Goldmacher, Shane; Karni, Annie. "Hillary Clinton's path to victory". Politico. Archived from the original on 2016-06-19. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
- ^ Seitz-Wald, Alex (2016-05-06). "Analysis: 'Blue Wall' Gives Trump Little Room for Error". NBC News. Archived from the original on 2016-05-06. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
- ^ Goldmacher, Shane; Corasaniti, Nick; Gabriel, Trip (November 8, 2020). "'It's Such a Relief': Biden Voters Rebuild a Wall That Trump Smashed". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 5, 2022. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
- ^ "Trump holds electoral vote in northern Maine". Politico. November 4, 2020. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
- ^ "Clinton's Campaign Is Focused on Battleground States She Doesn't Really Need – The Atlantic". www.theatlantic.com. 2 November 2016. Archived from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
- ^ a b Steinhauser, Paul (12 November 2012). "Holding Democratic 'blue wall' was crucial for Obama victory - CNNPolitics.com". CNN. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
- ^ a b Chris, Ladd. "The Missing Story of the 2014 Election". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
- ^ "'The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell' for Monday, November 17th, 2014". News. NBC. Archived from the original on 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
- ^ "Breaking Democrats' 'Blue Wall'". National Review. 17 February 2015. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
- ^ "Democrats say a 2016 electoral college "blue wall" means Republicans can't win. Wrong". 25 February 2015. Archived from the original on 22 March 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
- ^ Silver, Nate (12 May 2015). "There Is No 'Blue Wall'". FiveThirtyEight. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
- ^ "OFFICIAL 2016 PRESIDENTIAL GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS, General Election Date: 11/08/2016". Federal Election Commission. 30 January 2017.
- ^ UTC, NBC News Exit Poll Desk1d ago / 4:52 PM (8 November 2020). "NBC News Exit Poll: How Biden rebuilt the Democrats' 'blue wall'". NBC News. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2020-11-08.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Mejia, Elena; Skelley, Geoffrey (8 December 2020). "How The 2020 Election Changed The Electoral Map". Archived from the original on 14 April 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "Biden becomes the first Democrat to win Georgia since 1992, CBS News projects". CBS News. 13 November 2020. Archived from the original on 2024-06-26. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ "Biden wins Arizona, flips longtime Republican stronghold". Associated Press. 4 November 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-11-19. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ "Biden Wins Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District". Bloomberg.com. 4 November 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-11-04. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ^ Watson, Kathryn (2024-11-06). "Trump wins Pennsylvania in 2024 presidential election, securing major battleground state. See the county-by-county results". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
- ^ "2024 Michigan Election Results". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2024-11-06.