Georgetown students currently live in the bluest place in the United States. A recent Gallup poll ranked the District of Columbia as the most Democratic-leaning compared to other U.S. states in 2009.Reporting a 66 percent Democratic advantage over Republicans, the District is 34 percentage points ahead of its nearest competitor Rhode Island.

Overall in the polling for the District of Columbia, 77.9 percent of respondents identified themselves as Democrat or leaning Democrat, while 11.5 percent said they were Republican or leaning Republican. The remainder did not affiliate themselves with either party.

Citing the district as a metropolitan center without surrounding rural areas, Bryan Woll (COL ’12), president of the Georgetown University College Democrats, stated the District has several factors explaining such a heavy Democratic tendency.

“For the past several decades, Democrats have firmly . supported granting the district full, voting representation in the U.S. Congress. Thus, the interests of the almost 600,000 residents of D.C. are certainty well represented in the Democratic Party,” Woll said. “As a party that not only has a plurality of American members, but whose positions have also consistently and historically stood on the side of equality and opportunity, Democrats obviously garner great support in the district. In addition, the district has a sizable LGBTQ population, another minority group whose rights Democrats have regularly defended.”

In order, Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont, Hawaii, New York, Illinois, Connecticut and Delaware rounded out the top-10 Democratic-leaning states for 2009.

Gallup used a formula that subtracted the percentage of Republican and Republican-leaning voters from the percentage of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters. Gallup polled more than 350,000 adults in the survey, setting up approximately 1,000 interviews in each state.

The top-10 Republican states for 2009 were led by Wyoming with a 22 percent margin of Republicans over Democrats. The others were Utah, Alaska, Idaho, Alabama, Montana, Nebraska, Mississippi, Texas, North Dakota and Kansas.

According to Geoffrey Bible (SFS ’12), chairman of Georgetown University College Republicans, D.C.’s liberal tendencies do not necessarily represent the political makeup of the Georgetown student body.

“The Georgetown University College Republicans are not surprised by this recent poll. It has been well known that the district is a very liberal area. However, this will not deter any efforts of the College Republicans on campus or in campaigning,” he said. “Georgetown University and the GUCR attract students from across every state in the nation, and therefore this poll has no effect on our efforts.”

The survey noted national trends that are in line with recent state elections.

“Nationwide, party support shifted in a slightly more Republican direction in 2009 after a historically strong Democratic year in 2008. Overall, 49 percent of Americans in 2009 identified as Democrats or said they were independent but leaned to the Democratic Party, while 41 percent identified as Republicans or were Republican-leaning independents,” Gallup’s Web site said. “That eight-point Democratic advantage compares to a 12-point, 52 percent to 40 percent, Democratic advantage in 2008.”