Wyoming, Mississippi, Utah Rank as Most Conservative States

August 2, 2010
Wyoming, Mississippi, Utah Rank as Most Conservative States
The District of Columbia and four New England states rank as most liberal
by Jeffrey M. Jones
Page: 12

PRINCETON, N.J. -- A majority of Wyoming, Mississippi, and Utah residents identified as conservative rather than moderate or liberal during the first half of 2010, making these the most politically conservative states in the U.S. The District of Columbia had the greatest percentage of liberals, along with four New England states: Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

The group of most conservative states includes five Southern states, three Western states, and three states from the Midwest. The 10 most liberal states are primarily made up of Northeastern states, but also include the Pacific Coast states of Oregon and Washington.

In general, Americans are much more likely to identify politically as conservative than as liberal, and this has been the case for many years. As a result, the 10 most conservative states have no fewer than 46% of their residents identifying as conservative. In contrast, the 10 most liberal states have a much lower threshold of 25% liberal identifiers in their states.

For the full results for each state, see page 2.

On average, conservatives outnumber liberals by about 20 percentage points across all states. Only in the District of Columbia and Rhode Island did liberals outnumber conservatives during the first half of 2010.

Ideology and Partisanship

As one would expect, there is overlap between the most liberal and Democratic states and most conservative and Republican states. The five most liberal states and New York all appear in the top 10 most Democratic states. Likewise, six of the most conservative states (Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, Alabama, Idaho, and Nebraska) also rank among the most Republican.

Notably, whereas Southern states comprise half of the 10 most conservative states, only Alabama from that region ranks among the most Republican. This dichotomy likely stems from the South's conservative political roots but also its historical affiliation with the Democratic Party. Southerners' affiliation with the Democratic Party has weakened in the past few decades as Southern states have become reliably Republican in voting for president and have elected increasing numbers of Republicans to Congress, governor, and state legislatures.

This story is part of a series of midyear updates on Gallup's State of the States data, to be released in July and August on Gallup.com. See the complete schedule and send your suggestion for our "readers' pick." Gallup.com will report new full-year totals in early 2011 based on all 2010 surveys.