Tourists arrive to spend the day on West Ship Island, as BP contractors laid boom offshore to contain an oil spill off the coast of Gulfport, Mississippi May 6, 2010.
Tourists arrive to spend the day on West Ship Island, as BP contractors laid boom offshore to contain an oil spill off the coast of Gulfport, Mississippi May 6, 2010. REUTERS

The state of Mississippi has the largest percentage of people in the United States who identify themselves as conservative, with just over half of people making that self-assessment, according to poll results.

With 50.5 percent of people calling themselves conservative, Mississippi topped the list of conservative states, according to phone interviews throughout 2010 by Gallup Daily tracking. The data was obtained from from 182,538 adults 18 or older living in all 50 U.S. States and the District of Columbia selected randomly.

Others in the top 5 conservative states included Idaho at 48.5 percent, Alabama at 48.3 percent, Wyoming at 47.4 percent and Utah at 47.3 percent.

At the other end of the spectrum, the District of Columbia contained the largest percentage of people who described themselves as being liberal at 41.1 percent.

The percentage dropped off sharply beyond that, as others in the top 5 most liberal included Vermont at 30.5 percent, Rhode Island at 29.3 percent, Massachusetts at 28 percent, Connecticut at 26.7 percent.

The highest percentage of people calling themselves moderate was in Hawaii, with 43.3 percent. Rounding out the top 5 states with most moderates were Maryland with 40.6 percent, Delaware with 40.5 percent, D.C with 39.5 percent and Nevada with 38.8 percent.

The margins of error are no greater than plus or minus 6 percentage point for any state, and are plus or minus 3 points or less for most states, Gallup said. The margin of error in the District of Columbia is plus or minus 7 percentage points.