Gallup: Wyoming, N. Dakota, Mississippi Most Conservative States

Wyoming, North Dakota and Mississippi have the most conservative residents, according to a Gallup survey taken throughout 2016.

People in those states who identify themselves as conservatives outnumber their neighbors who identify as liberals by more than 30 percent, according to Gallup.

Gallup talked to 177,788 adults throughout the year, and asked them to identify as very conservative, conservative, moderate, liberal or very liberal. The results for those identifying as very conservative and conservative were added together, and the same was done for those who said they were very liberal and liberal. The number of liberals were then subtracted from the number of conservatives, resulting in each state's "Conservative Advantage" number.

Here are the most conservative states with the with conservative advantage ranking:

• Wyoming +35
• North Dakota +31
• Mississippi +31
• Oklahoma +30
• Alabama +30
• Arkansas +28
• Idaho +28
• Louisiana +27
• Montana +26
• Utah +26
• Tennessee +26

And the least conservative:

• Vermont -14
• Massachusetts -8
• Connecticut -4
• New York -2
• Washington 0
• Maine 0
• California +1
• Oregon +1
• Maryland +1
• Hawaii +2

The top 10 most and least conservative states were mostly unchanged from 2015, but Gallup reported that even though the majority of states lean conservative and the country overall is more conservative, the conservative advantage has decreased since 2009.

That, Gallup said, is a result of more people who had identified as moderate changing their designation to liberal.

Gallup's map closely mirrors presidential voting patterns, with conservative states clustered mostly in the Southeast, Mountain West and Great Plains. Liberals were clustered along both coasts in New England, the Middle Atlantic and far West.

Conservatives outnumber liberals in an overwhelming 44 of the 50 states. Liberals outnumber conservatives in only four states (Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York), and two states are evenly distributed, (Washington and Maine.)

The daily polls were conducted Jan. 2-Dec. 30, 2016. Margins of error for individual states are no greater than ±6 percentage points and are ±3 percentage points in most states.

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