Americans Vote Hawaii As Best State In US: What’s The Worst?

Americans have chosen Hawaii as the best state in the country, according to the results of a new survey conducted by market research and data analytics firm YouGov. But which state was ranked the worst?

The March 12-15 poll published Tuesday asked 1,211 American adults to choose the better of two states from a list of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., in a "head-to-head matchup." According to the results, Hawaii topped the list after securing a 69% win rate against all the states it faced.

"Hawaii, which is well-known for its beautiful beaches and warm weather, took the top spot by winning 69% of its matchups," YouGov said in a statement.

Second place went to Colorado, which won 65% of matches for "its scenic mountains, hiking paths and recreational marijuana industry."

Virginia, described as "a destination for American history and ocean coastlines," ranked third with a 64% win rate. It was followed by Nevada at fourth place with 61% matches won, and North Carolina not far behind at fifth with a marginally lower 61%.

"Following the top five, Florida snagged the sixth spot with a 61% win-rate. Another retirement destination, Arizona, won 60% of its matchups to take seventh. New York — the destination for Broadway, quality food, and the city’s culture — landed in eighth place (59%). Two other destinations for warm weather and ocean coastlines landed in ninth and tenth place, respectively: Georgia (58%) and Texas (58%)," YouGov stated.

In contrast, Alabama and Mississipi tied for the worst state title with 38% win rates. The firm said the two states "often rank low in other assessments of income and health care access."

YouGov noted that most of the bottom 10 of the list were states "situated in either the South, with Arkansas (39%) and Kentucky (42%) joining Alabama and Mississippi close to the bottom, or Midwest, including Iowa (39%), Indiana (40%), South Dakota (40%), Missouri (42%), and Kansas (42%)."

New Jersey was the only exception in the trend, coming third from the bottom with 39%, YouGov noted.

"While panelists did not provide context for their choices, New Jersey is often the butt of jokes, including for its occasional odor or for being the birthplace of The Jersey Shore franchise," the firm remarked.

It was, however, pointed out that Washington, D.C., scored the worst out of all the choices, winning only 35% of its matchups.

"Americans might be rejecting the political divisiveness it stands for—or could be protesting that it is, in fairness, not a state," YouGov said.

The firm further noted that a majority of Americans would choose their home state when asked which state was better, regardless of which state they currently lived in or which state they originally came from.

Each respondent of the poll answered seven match-ups, and none saw a state twice, per YouGov. "Data was weighted to be nationally representative of all U.S. Adults, 18+," the firm stated.