Evaluate the theory 'Red and Blue America'.

Red and Blue America is a theory developed by Caesar and Busch to describe the polarised nature of the American political system, not only depicting the specific ideologies of states but characterising them based on their physical and social makeup. For example, red states are small town, Christian, white and would vote Republican; nowhere is this better displayed than Texas which fits these characteristics and has not voted Democrat since 1976. Blue America is the inverse of this, large secular, diverse cities that would vote Democrat; this is encapsulated by Massachusetts which has not voted Republican since 1928 when the Republican party had a very different ideology. This shift in strict differences between states can be seen from Lyndon Johnson's 'Great Society' which pushed for greater civil rights, many southern red states felt alienated by this, leading to Nixon’s southern strategy which aimed to capture southern red states by promising no further civil rights. This was arguably the landmark in American political history that polarised America so vastly, making states characteristics and ideologies so polarised. In contrast to this, Bennett feels that this is too naïve and states will not be strictly red or blue and those that are not strictly one of these two are more influential in US politics, creating the idea of ‘shades of purple’. There is a set of twelve swing states that are clearly purple whereby they will change between Republican and Democrat regularly. For example, Trump targeted the rust belt swing states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania by promising to improve their manufacturing industry; this was vital for his presidential win. Therefore, the theory of red and blue America may still be applicable for strongly ideological states but those which are not are becoming highly influential in United States Politics.