The most conservative Americans live in the Plains States and the South, which probably comes as no surprise. And the liberals tend to live in the Northeast and on the West Coast, not surprising either.

Gallup confirmed these perceptions in new research:

Wyoming was the most conservative U.S. state in 2013, replacing Alabama, which fell to 10th place. The District of Columbia was once again the most liberal area in the United States, with Vermont and Massachusetts having the highest percentage of liberals among the 50 states.

Also among the most conservative states: Utah, Idaho, Montana, South Carolina and Mississippi.

At the other end of the spectrum, liberals are concentrated in Massachusetts, Delaware, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Oregon and California.

While there is a widely held perception that the Republican party is in retreat, its conservative core continues to hold its own over liberals:

The national “conservative advantage,” defined as the percentage of residents self-identifying as conservative minus the percentage self-identifying as liberal in each state, was at 14.6 percentage points in 2013. Given that national advantage, only three states (Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Vermont) have a negative score, along with the District of Columbia, meaning they have more liberals than conservatives.

No matter how the media views the prospects of the Republicans and Democrats in the mid-term and national elections, it may not be so easy as it appears for the Democrats to tip the balance in Washington in their direction.

Methodology: Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 2 to Dec. 29, 2013, on the Gallup Daily tracking survey, with a random sample of 178,527 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

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