Poll: More states blue than red

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PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Two New England states were the most Democratic U.S. states in 2009 and two Mountain states were the most Republican, a poll indicates.

Rhode Island and Massachusetts, along with the District of Columbia, were the bluest, while results, based on aggregated data from the Gallup Poll Daily tracking in 2009, painted Utah and Wyoming the reddest, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said Monday.

Nationwide, party support moved slightly Republican in 2009 after a strong Democratic year in 2008, Gallup said. Forty-nine percent of U.S. voters in 2009 identified themselves as Democrats or said they were independent but leaned to the Democratic Party, while 41 percent identified themselves as Republicans or Republican-leaning independents. The 8-point Democratic advantage compares to a 12-point, 52 percent to 40 percent, Democratic advantage in 2008.

In total, 23 states plus the District of Columbia can be classified as solidly Democratic, with at least a 10 percentage-point advantage in party affiliation favoring Democrats. Ten other states could be thought of as Democratic leaning, Gallup said.

Gallup identified four states that could be considered solidly Republican and one was Republican-leaning.

The remaining 12 states were labeled competitive, with less than a 5-point advantage for either party. Montana, Nebraska, Mississippi, Texas, North Dakota and Kansas lean Republican, and Georgia, South Dakota, Louisiana, Arizona, Oklahoma and South Carolina tilt Democratic.

Results were based on national telephone interviews with 353,849 adults conducted in 2009 as part of Gallup Poll Daily tracking. For results based on the total sample of national adults, margin of error is 1 percentage point.