Hawaii, D.C. give Obama top ratings in '12

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PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Hawaii and the District of Columbia were the most likely to approve of President Obama in 2012 while Utah and Wyoming were least likely, Gallup said.

This year's top approval rankings saw Rhode Island move into the top 10 states plus the District, and Illinois drop out, Gallup's analysis of its Daily tracking for last year, released Monday, indicated. Among the bottom 11 states, Kentucky and South Dakota dropped out, replaced by Alabama and Nebraska.

Obama received majority approval in 14 states and the District of Columbia, compared with the 26 states and the District of Columbia he won in the 2012 presidential election, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.

Gallup said the two lists of states wouldn't necessarily align because approval data are based on opinions of all adults in a state, while the election results are based on voters. Also, election results are from October and early November, when Obama's overall approval rating was above 50 percent while the approval data is based on the entire year year.

With 82.4 percent, Obama had the highest approval rating in the District of Columbia, followed by Hawaii, Vermont, Maryland, New York, Rhode Island, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and California.

Obama earned 27.9 percent approval in Utah, which was last, preceded by Wyoming, Alaska, West Virginia, North Dakota, Idaho, Oklahoma, Alabama, Nebraska, Arkansas and Montana.

Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews conducted with 165,427 adults as part of Gallup Daily tracking Jan. 1-Dec 31. The margin of error is 1 percentage point.