Gallup: 17 solid blue states, 14 solid red states in 2013

Blue states outnumbered red states in the United States in 2013, 17 to 14, results of a Gallup survey released Wednesday indicated. Overall, the most Democratic-leaning states last year were New York, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maryland, all showing at least 20 percentage point Democratic advantages in party identification, results indicated. The most Republican-leaning states were Wyoming, Utah, North Dakota, Idaho, Kansas and Alaska, all with 20 percentage point or more Democratic deficits, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said. The number of competitive states was 19, unchanged from 2012. Gallup said the biggest change in the states' party profiles was the Republicans' pick up of three solidly Republican states -- South Carolina, South Dakota, and Oklahoma -- although the gains were partly offset by a net loss of one Republican-leaning state. Democrats had net losses of one solid and one Democratic-leaning state, Gallup said. Despite the Republicans' gain in the states last year, Democrats enjoyed a 47 percent-to-41 percent advantage over Republicans in the country's overall political orientation in 2013, about the same as the year before, Gallup said. Results are based on nationwide phone interviews with 178,527 adults conducted Jan. 2-Dec. 29, 2013. The margin of error for the overall sample is 1 percentage point. Margins of error for states and the District of Columbia range from 3 percentage points to 6 percentage points.