States with the highest percentage of self-identifying political conservatives are also more likely to have a higher percentage of citizens who say religion is important to them, according to an analysis of two Gallup surveys.
Additionally, the most politically liberal states are least likely to be religious.
Gallup released results of a poll Aug. 2 showing Wyoming and Mississippi as tied for first in having the highest percentage of self-identifying political conservatives (53 percent). They are followed by Utah (51 percent), South Dakota (50 percent), Alabama and North Dakota (tied at 49 percent) and Idaho (48 percent). Rounding out the top 10 are four states tied at 46 percent: South Carolina, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Louisiana.
Among those, five — Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Louisiana — were in the Top 10 of Gallup’s January 2009 survey of the most religious states in America. In fact, of the 11 most conservative states, only Idaho and Wyoming are not in the Top 20 of the most religious states.
The highest percentage of self-identifying liberals was found largely in the Northeast, where Rhode Island was first (32 percent), followed by Connecticut and Vermont (tied at 29 percent), Massachusetts (28 percent), Colorado and New York (tied at 27 percent), Oregon (26 percent), Washington and New Jersey (tied at 25 percent), and New Hampshire and Maryland (tied at 24 percent).
