Most liberal and conservative states

[RIP Robert H Bork]

What do you think are the most liberal and conservative states?

[Holmes]

10 Most Liberal -
Vermont
Massachussets
Rhode Island
Oregon
California
Washington
New York
Illinois
Maryland
Minnesota

10 Most Conservative -
Utah
Idaho
Wyoming
South Dakota
Alabama
Mississippi
South Carolina
Arkansas
Kentucky
Indiana

No order.

[Joe Biden 2020]

10 Most Liberal -
Vermont
Massachussets
Rhode Island
Oregon
California
Washington
New York
Illinois
Maryland
Minnesota

10 Most Conservative -
Utah
Idaho
Wyoming
South Dakota
Alabama
Mississippi
South Carolina
Arkansas
Kentucky
Indiana

No order.

What?  No Oklahoma in the 10 most conservative?  I'd rethink that if I were you.

[Husker]

In no particular order:

10 Most Conservative:

Alabama
Mississippi
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Utah
Idaho
Wyoming
Texas
Tennessee

10 Most liberal:

Vermont
New York
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
Hawaii
Connecticut
California
Maine
Washington
Oregon

[DownWithTheLeft]

Most liberal - Vermont
Most conservative - Texas

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Most liberal - Vermont
Most conservative - Texas

Not Massachusetts and Utah?

[DownWithTheLeft]

Most liberal - Vermont
Most conservative - Texas

Not Massachusetts and Utah?

You asked conservative/liberal rather than Republican and Democratic.  Vermont is most likely the most "liberal" state with extreme liberals and Texas is the most "conservative" due to the economic populism of most other Republican strongholds

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Most liberal - Vermont
Most conservative - Texas

Not Massachusetts and Utah?

You asked conservative/liberal rather than Republican and Democratic.  Vermont is most likely the most "liberal" state with extreme liberals and Texas is the most "conservative" due to the economic populism of most other Republican strongholds

Vermont more liberal than Massachusetts? Strange but not impossible.
Texas more conservative than Utah? Maybe but are you suggesting that Utah is economically populist?

[DownWithTheLeft]

Vermont more liberal than Massachusetts? Strange but not impossible.
Texas more conservative than Utah? Maybe but are you suggesting that Utah is economically populist?

Massachusetts is basically rich blue-blood liberals, mostly racists and latte drinkers.  Vermont is really hippie, yuppie liberals.  And yes I did suggest that Utah is populist to an extent, where Texas is not

[Husker]

I would agree that Vermont is the most purely liberal state in the country. That's not to say Massachusetts isn't liberal but VT seems to be a step above it. I have always admired VT for their independence and liberalism.

Actually, Oklahoma is probably the most conservative if you combine economic and social conservatism. I wouldn't say it is tops at either, but it is probably the best combination. Texas is very close but I'll give the edge to Oklahoma in conservatism. Texas does have Austin after all :-)

If you talk old-school conservatism, Nebraska certainly would be close to the top. There are many people like Chuck Hagel around here... I consider myself to be on the left end of the republican spectrum and used to vote mostly republican and will again when the republican party allows a seat for moderates and left leaners like me.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Most liberal is VT, most conservative is UT.

[Holmes]

What?  No Oklahoma in the 10 most conservative?  I'd rethink that if I were you.

Oooh, I totally forgot... I guess it can be replaced by Indiana.

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Liberal: Hawaii and Massachusetts
Conservative: Texas and Utah

[justfollowingtheelections]

According to the CNN exit polls (the numbers are the percentages of self-identified liberals or conservatives in each state):

MOST LIBERAL
1. D.C. 46
2. Massachusetts 32
3. Vermont 32
4. New York 31
5. Connecticut 29
6. Hawai'i 28
7. Rhode Island 28
8. Maine 27
9. Washington 27
10. Maryland 26
11. New Hampshire 26
12. Minnesota 26

MOST CONSERVATIVE
1. Mississippi 49
2. Utah 48
3. Alabama 47
4. Texas 46
5. Arkansas 45
6. Tennessee 44
7. Idaho 43
8. Louisiana 42
9. South Carolina 40
10. Georgia 39
11. Wyoming 39
12. Oklahoma 39
13. Kentucky 39

The least liberal state by the way is Alabama (12%) and the least conservative is D.C. (11%). 

Obama won the liberal vote 89-10 and McCain won the conservative vote 78-20.  The most liberal states McCain won were Montana and Arizona (21%), and the least liberal state Obama won was Colorado (17%).  The most conservative states Obama won were Iowa and North Carolina (37%) and the least conservative states McCain won were West Virginia and Montana (34%).

 

[justfollowingtheelections]

This would be a map of the above data with red being liberal states and blue being conservative states (in New Jersey there's an equal number of liberals and conservatives).

[Person Man]

I really don't listen to "liberal" and "conservative" any more... as long as people have been asked how they identify, they usually are 50% to say that they are conservative.... even in the 60s.

In order to get a good picture, look at state laws  and court rulings on controversial issues and what polling is in that state on many of the issues at hand.  I mean, a state that is 60% in favor of some significant form of abortion rights may still be 60% in favor of forced repatriation of  all non-white undocumenteds and be a right-to-work state on top of that.

[justfollowingtheelections]

I really don't listen to "liberal" and "conservative" any more... as long as people have been asked how they identify, they usually are 50% to say that they are conservative.... even in the 60s.

In order to get a good picture, look at state laws  and court rulings on controversial issues and what polling is in that state on many of the issues at hand.  I mean, a state that is 60% in favor of some significant form of abortion rights may still be 60% in favor of forced repatriation of  all non-white undocumenteds and be a right-to-work state on top of that.

I disagree.  If we relied on laws to identify conservatives and liberals, we would have to use our own definition of conservatism (or liberalism) which might be subjective.  Also, laws are made by state lawmakers, who while voted by the people do not always do what the people want.

[JSojourner]

Most Liberal
Vermont
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Maryland
New York
Hawaii
Maine
Delaware
Illinois

Most Conservative

Idaho
Oklahoma
Utah
Alabama
Wyoming
Mississippi
Kansas
Tennessee
Kentucky
Alaska

[Matt Damon™]

NY as one of the most liberal? Why?

[Husker]

NY as one of the most liberal? Why?

New York City, particularly Manhattan, makes New York one of the most liberal states. Or at least it sure seems that way at the surface..

[Person Man]

I really don't listen to "liberal" and "conservative" any more... as long as people have been asked how they identify, they usually are 50% to say that they are conservative.... even in the 60s.

In order to get a good picture, look at state laws  and court rulings on controversial issues and what polling is in that state on many of the issues at hand.  I mean, a state that is 60% in favor of some significant form of abortion rights may still be 60% in favor of forced repatriation of  all non-white undocumenteds and be a right-to-work state on top of that.

I disagree.  If we relied on laws to identify conservatives and liberals, we would have to use our own definition of conservatism (or liberalism) which might be subjective.  Also, laws are made by state lawmakers, who while voted by the people do not always do what the people want.

Then again, most states allow laws to be referred and we do have to find definitions for liberalism and conservatism. Those terms mean nothing without any form of definition. I guess what you could do is look at all the liberal and conservative rankings for the states. NARAL ranks states from A to F, for example.

[Matt Damon™]

NY is trending left but isn't quite oen of the most liberal yet.

[justfollowingtheelections]

Of course it is.  Where else do you see men holding hands with no even staring at them?  You don't see that in Vermont!

NYC and southern Connecticut are very liberal.

[Jacobtm]

Oregon is the most liberal and conservative state, as Nate Silver outlines in his article "Oregon: Swing State or latte-drinking, Prius-driving lesbian commune?"



http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/05/oregon-swing-state-or-latte-drinking.html

[RI]

Oregon is the most liberal and conservative state, as Nate Silver outlines in his article "Oregon: Swing State or latte-drinking, Prius-driving lesbian commune?"



http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/05/oregon-swing-state-or-latte-drinking.html

Of course, if you average them together, you get a very polarized state that can't be defined as really in one column or the other. According to the graph, I would say that Hawaii is the most liberal because not only were the Kerry voters liberal, but the Bush voters were moderate too. Similarly, I would say that Tennessee is the most conservative according to the graph as the Bush voters were very conservative and the Kerry voters were very moderate.

Going from there, I would say that North Dakota is amongst the most moderate states. Seems kind of strange to me, but whatever. Meh.

Here is something interesting from that chart too: If there were roughly an even amount of Bush and Kerry voters in every state, this is how each state would lean: