 Texas is big, proud and … not really liked that much by people in other states, at least according to the results of a Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday. The state of Texas is many things, but when 1,200 Americans were asked for their opinion of Texas in the last several months, 31 percent responded unfavorably. Women have a higher opinion of New York by 27 points more than men, Massachusetts by 22 points, Delaware and California by 16, New Hampshire by 15, Vermont and Illinois by 13, and Connecticut by 11, while men see North Dakota more favorably by 17 points, South Carolina by 15, Wyoming 14, Montana 13, and Iowa and South Dakota 10. The 9 percentage point difference in positive and negative opinions placed Texas at 38th most liked state among the 50 United States. Some more findings from the survey: If you are black, you probably don’t like Texas as much as most other states, but it’s better than Mississippi or Alabama. So the greatest partisan gap is for California, which Democrats like 91 points more than Republicans do, followed by Texas, which is favored more by Republicans by 82 points. Only five are in negative territory, led by California (27% favorable and 44% unfavorable), Illinois (19-29), New Jersey (25-32), Mississippi (22-28), and Utah (24-27).
– Americans are generally pretty positive, or at least indifferent, about these United States. Public Policy Polling asked 1,200 people how they felt about each of the 50 states, and only five were viewed more unfavorably than favorably. America's favorite state, by an overwhelming margin was Hawaii, while its least favorite was California. Here are the top and bottom five, along with their favorable/unfavorable split: Most popular: Hawaii—54-10 (+44) Colorado—44-9 (+35) Tennessee—48-14 (+34) South Dakota—42-8 (+34) Virginia—45-13 (+32) Least popular: California—27-44 (-17) Illinois—19-29 (-10) New Jersey—25-32 (-7) Mississippi—22-28 (-6) Utah—24-27 (-3) Of course, most people are indifferent about most states, the Houston Chronicle observes, with an average of two-thirds of respondents saying they were "not sure" for each. But some states were quite polarizing; Democrats like California 91 points more than Republicans do, while Republicans like Texas 82 points more than Democrats.