Actually, we in the Southern states think of `red state’ as referring to the red clay of Alabama, Georgia, & the Carolinas.
So many liberals are northeastern blueblood aristocrats that maybe blue could apply to them.
Conservatives do often have trouble with identification labels as the dominant media culture is the one doing the labeling & identifying, this is true.
I’m in a Southern state, and “Red” has only ever meant one thing when it comes to politics (and it ain’t anything remotely resembling freedom).