Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Alabama loses spot as most conservative state

  The Gallup poll has come out with their ranking of the most conservative and most liberal states in America.

  Last year we were ranked as the most conservative in the country. We lost that mantle to Wyoming this year. In fact, we fell dramatically to number ten. In past years either Alabama or one of our sister southern Bible Belt states took home the title. This year the Western states made inroads into our group in the top ten rankings.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Are regressive taxes something to brag about?

  A recent survey rated Alabama as the most conservative state in the Union. More than half of our residents describe themselves as politically conservative. The poll was done by the vaunted Princeton, New Jersey Gallup polling firm.

  Four of our sister states, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana and Arkansas, also ranked in the top 10 of the 50 states in conservatism, according to Gallup. All five of us are predictably, reliably Republican. The states of North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma and Nebraska rounded out the top ten. All these states are rural and also very Republican. Therefore, all ten of the most conservative states are Republican states.