New Jersey has always gotten a bad rap and is usually the butt of any joke related to states in the U.S. Reality shows like 'Jersey Shore' certainly doesn't do New Jersey any favors, but surprisngly, Jersey is not the most hated the state in America. The most hated is...... California... according to a new poll by the Public Policy Polling Firm. They surveyed more than 3,300 people over four months, asking respondents if they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion.

California received an unfavorable rating by 44-percent of respondents and Illinois came in at number on the not so good list. The most unpopular states were:

  1. California
  2. Illinois
  3. New Jersey
  4. Mississippi
  5. Utah

The most popular states were :

  1. Hawaii
  2. Colorado
  3. Tennessee
  4. South Dakota
  5. Virginia

There was also a political side of this equation with 40-percent of the respondents being Democrats and 37-percent being Republicans and the rest were Independent.

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