It did.  It was entirely a media creation.  In all fairness, the color scheme was reversed randomly in elections prior to the adoption of the "red conservative, blue liberal" model we have now, but a clever media manipulator might have said "hey, stop and think about it, blue means good, red means bad, let's get this into everyone's head".  Such subliminal tricks were first highlighted by Vance Packard in his book The Hidden Persuaders.

Stop and think, too, what colors are normally used in fast-food advertising?  Red, yellow, orange, excited, hungry, think McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, KFC, Pizza Hut, Denny's, Waffle House, Carl's Jr, Whataburger, RED Lobster, the list goes on.  How often do you see a restaurant with predominantly blue livery?  Culver's is the only one that comes immediately to mind.