From Fastcompany · · 3m
Blue heart emoji surges as Democrats celebrate midterms
Google searches for the blue heart emoji jumped 1,050% year-on-year as supporters used it to celebrate Democratic election victories.
In brief
Google searches for the blue heart emoji jumped 1,050% year-on-year as supporters used it to celebrate Democratic election victories. The blue heart emoji became the unofficial symbol of Democratic midterm celebration, with Google searches up eighty percent from last month and one thousand fifty percent year-on-year…
Blue hearts flood social media
The blue heart emoji became the unofficial symbol of Democratic celebration on Election Day, appearing repeatedly in posts and comments across social media platforms.
Tinashe leads the charge
Pop star Tinashe used the blue heart emoji twelve times in a post on X on Election Day, writing VOTE OR DIE LETS GO AMERICA with twelve blue hearts.
“VOTE OR DIE ! LETS GO AMERICA 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙”
Democratic Party Instagram flooded
The Democratic Party's official Instagram account posted nearly one hundred times in twenty four hours with election results, with comments sections filled with blue heart emojis.
Search interest surges dramatically
Google searches for the blue heart emoji are up eighty percent from last month and up one thousand fifty percent from the comparable period last year.
Highest searches in key states
Blue heart emoji searches peaked in Texas and North Carolina, two states where Democrats flipped U.S. House and Senate seats during the midterms.
Outpaces other heart colors
On Emojitracker, which tracks real-time emoji copies, the blue heart emoji outpaced the pink and white hearts by more than two to one on Wednesday.
Emojis as political symbols
Emojis have been adopted to signify political movements before. The rose emoji represents socialism, used by Democratic Socialists of America in tweets.
Harris campaign used coconut emoji
During Kamala Harris's two thousand twenty four presidential campaign, her supporters used coconut and palm tree emoji to refer to her widely memed comments about context.
Canada's Green Party adopted green dot
Last year, Canada's Green Party adopted the green dot emoji as its new logo, showing how emojis have become tools for political branding.
Blue is uniquely American
Using blue for the left-of-center party is a uniquely American quirk. In other western democracies, red is associated with left-wing movements and center-left parties.
Colors standardized after 2000
Before two thousand, colors used to represent a party depended on the TV network and year. After the Florida recount in the two thousand presidential race, networks standardized current color schemes.
Republicans formalized red in 2004
In two thousand four, the Republican Party formalized red as its color when it rebranded to an all-red GOP logo, cementing the modern color divide.
Obama explained the color divide
During his speech at the two thousand four Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama, then a senator from Illinois, bemoaned pundits who slice and dice the country into red states and blue states.
“like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue states”
Color shorthand now universal
Today the color divide is so widely understood that the Democratic Party's social media posts simply refer to candidates keeping or flipping a seat to blue without explanation.
Blue emoji communicates without words
A string of blue heart emojis can now communicate excitement over Democrats' election success without saying a word, showing how visual symbols have replaced traditional political language.
Here's the gist
The blue heart emoji became the unofficial symbol of Democratic midterm celebration, with Google searches up eighty percent from last month and one thousand fifty percent year-on-year.
