If colors represent the political bent of the states, 47 of the 50 would appear to be on fire with a conservative red glow, and just three would radiate a glacial blue liberal light – so says a recent Gallup poll.

Cutting through the chase, only Massachusetts, Vermont and Hawaii have a higher percentage of citizens who consider themselves "liberal" than "conservative," but their liberal advantage margins are only by a narrow percentage — each less than five percent. (See related story from Gallup)

This doesn't include the District of Columbia, by far the most liberal region in the country. In the nation's capital, twice as many people (36.3%) consider themselves liberal, as compared to 18 percent who identify as conservative, rewarding Washington, DC, with the highest "liberal advantage" (18.3%) in the country.

At the other end of the political spectrum, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana are the deepest shade of red, all with more than 45 percent of their populations identifying themselves as conservative.

And the top 10 are …

First, let's take a look at the top 10 lists of the most conservative, liberal and moderate states in the U.S. by percentages of their populations. More than 177,000 18-and-older adults from all 50 states were interviewed last year for the results.

The top 10 conservative states are: 1. Mississippi (48.9 percent), 2. Alabama (46.5 percent), 3. Louisiana (45.7 percent), 4. Utah (44.6 percent), 5. Arkansas (43.8 percent), 6. Tennessee (43.2 percent), 7. Montana (43.1 percent), 8. Idaho (43.0 percent), 9. Oklahoma (42.9 percent) and South Carolina (42.3 percent). For the most part, these deep red states cluster around the South and Rocky Mountains.

Here are the top 10 liberal states: 1.Massachusetts (30.3 percent), 2. Vermont (29.8 percent), 3. Hawaii (29.6 percent), 4. New York (27.6 percent), 5. Oregon and California (27.5 percent each), 7. Washington (27.4 percent), 8. Connecticut (26.9 percent), 9. Maryland (26.7 percent) and New Jersey (25.5 percent). These left-leaning, deep blue states gravitate mostly around New England and the Pacific Coast.

The top 10 moderate states? 1. Delaware (43.9 percent), 2. Rhode Island (41.2 percent), 3. North Dakota (40.8 percent) 4. Wyoming (40.2 percent), 5. South Dakota (39.9 percent), 6. Alaska (39.3 percent), 7. Vermont (38.8 percent), 8. Massachusetts (38.1 percent), 9. Nebraska (38.0 percent) and 10. New Jersey and New Mexico (tied at 37.8 percent).

Looking at things another way, Gallup compiled a list of states with the largest "conservative advantage" — states with the biggest difference in the percentage of conservatives over liberals. Interestingly, Mississippi led this pack, with nearly four times as many conservatives, followed by Alabama, with almost three times more conservatives than liberals.

These are the top 10 states with the greatest percentage point differential (i.e., a conservative advantage): 1. Mississippi (36.0 percentage point differential), 2. Alabama (31.2), 3. Wyoming (28.8), 4. Louisiana (28.3), 5. North Dakota (27.5), 6. Arkansas (27.4), 7. Utah (27.2), 8. Tennessee (26.4), 9. Idaho (25.3) and Oklahoma (24.8).

On the other (liberal) side of the equation, the difference isn't nearly as pronounced. Excluding the previously mentioned District of Columbia, we find that only three states have a "liberal advantage," which is negligible and under five percent for each. Seven of the lowest "conservative advantage" states complete this top 10 list, with a negative percentage point difference to denote the margin between conservatives and liberals in those states.

The 10 states with the highest liberal advantage and lowest conservative advantage are as follows: 1. Massachusetts (4.6 percentage point differential), 2. Vermont (3.2), 3. Hawaii (1.9), 4. New York (-1.8), 5. Califonia (-2.7), 6. Rhode Island (-3.9), 7. New Jersey (-4.4), 8. Maryland (-4.5), 9. Washington (-4.7) and 10. Connecticut (-4.8).

Not to leave anyone out, here are the states with an above-average conservative advantage over liberals (15 percent or more), picking up after Oklahoma from the list above: 11. South Carolina (24.6 percentage point differential), 12. Kentucky (23.6), 13. South Dakota (23.3), 14. Nebraska (22.5), 15. Montana (22.0), 16. West Virginia (21.7), 17. Missouri (21.4), 18. Texas (20.9), 19. Georgia (20.2), 20. Iowa (19.3), 21. Indiana (19.2), 22. Kansas (18.0), 23. North Carolina (17.4), 24. New Hampshire (16.7), 25. Ohio (16.1) and 26. Virginia (15.4).

On the liberal side of things, following are the states with the lower end of the conservative advantage, again starting with the 11th-ranked state after the 10 highest liberal advantage/lowest conservative advantage states: 11. Delaware (5.5 percentage point differential), 12. Oregon (6.3), 13. Illinois (7.0), 14. Colorado (8.7), 15. Maine (9.4), 16. Minnesota (10.3), 17. Pennsylvania (12.0), 18. New Mexico (13.4), 19. Nevada (13.5), 20. Arizona (13.8), 21. Michigan (13.9), 22. Alaska (14.8) and 23. Florida and Wisconsin (14.9 each).

Conservatives leveling out, liberals on the rise

Even though conservatives significantly outnumber liberals in America, liberals have been steadily catching up for more than two decades. From 1992 to 2014, conservatives only increased from 36 percent of the U.S. population to 38 percent. Liberals, on the other hand, increased from 17 percent in 1992 to 24 percent last year (an all-time high). Moderates dipped from 43 percent to 34 percent between those years.

On another note, Republicans who consider themselves conservative have risen from 62 percent to 70 percent from 2000 to 2014. Democrats proclaiming themselves to be conservative dropped from 25 percent in 2000 to 19 percent in 2014. Independents declaring themselves conservatives climbed from 29 percent to 33 percent during the same period.

From 2000 to 2014, Democrats identifying as liberals drastically rose from 29 percent to 44 percent. Republicans considering themselves to be liberal slightly dropped from six percent to five percent during that time, while Independents of the liberal persuasion leveled out at 21 percent.

In this 15-year Gallup study consisting of 15 polls interviewing 18-and-older adults from 50 states, nearly 16,500 were also asked if their political worldviews were moderate. Republicans calling themselves moderate declined from 31 percent in 2000 to 24 percent in 2014. Moderate Democrats dropped from 44 percent to 36 percent during that time and Independents identifying as moderates declined from 44 percent to 41 percent.

Oddities and takeaways

Even though most regions in the U.S. are characterized as conservative (the South and Rockies) or liberal (the Northeast and Pacific Coast), some states appear to be an anomaly, not fitting in with their neighbors' political mindset.

"One example of a state that is quite different ideologically from its neighbors is New Hampshire, which is more conservative than the national average, yet borders the two most liberal states in the union: Massachusetts and Vermont," Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport pointed out. "Another example is Illinois, one of the more liberal states in the union, which shares borders with five states that are average or above average in their net conservative rating (Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky and Indiana)."

Looking at the broader picture, Newport gave a bird's eye view of America's political persuasions last year.

"Nationally, self-identified liberals have gained numbers in recent years and were at a record high in 2014, but still trail self-identified conservatives by a large margin," Newport reported. "In 2014, the nation was 38 percent conservative, 34 percent moderate and 24 percent liberal."

Despite some notable conservative and liberal shifts taking place over the past two decades from coast to coast, the political sway of major geographical regions in America since a Democrat took office more than six years ago has been relatively constant (see related article).

"Americans have become slightly less conservative and more liberal in recent years, while at the same time, with a few exceptions, the differences in ideology across the 50 states has generally remained quite stable," Newport concludes. "The most conservative states both seven years ago and now are mainly located in the South and the Mountain West, while the most liberal states are basically located along the East and West Coasts."