Photo by Sandy Choi

If there’s one thing that D.C. seems to do well is divide people.

An interesting survey published today by Public Policy Polling on how Americans view 21 cities finds that D.C. is better at dividing the passions of the populace better than any other city in the country. Way better. The nationwide poll found that 64 percent of Democrats view the city favorably, while only 20 percent of Republicans do—the largest single gap for any of the cities that were part of the poll. The city that most seemed to inspire partisan unity was Portland, followed by Cleveland, Phoenix and Atlanta.

Of course, none of this should be a surprise. This is the capital, after all, and politics is bound to play a role in how Americans view D.C. as a whole. There’s also a Democrat in the White House, and Republicans don’t spare any opportunities to bash Washington. Locally it’s a solidly Democratic city too, so that likely helps explain the gap.

Overall, though, D.C. fell solidly in the middle of the pack in terms of how all Americans view it. Forty-four percent said they had a favorable opinion, while 39 percent said it was unfavorable. That’s puts us in good company: Boston (52-17), Atlanta (51-19), Phoenix (49-18), Dallas (48-21), New York (49-23), New Orleans (47-24), Houston (45-22), Salt Lake City (43-20), Philadelphia (42-22), Baltimore (37-24), Las Vegas (43-33), Chicago (42-33), Cleveland (32-25), and Miami (36-33).

Seattle won out with a 57 percent favorability rating, followed by Portland (52 percent). Detroit ended up dead last, earning the support of only 22 percent of Americans and the disdain of 49 percent. Oakland and Los Angeles fared only marginally better.

Other interesting D.C. outtakes: we’re second in terms of the size of the gap between how blacks and whites view the city. Fifty-six percent of blacks have a good impression of D.C., while only 44 percent of whites can say the same. Only Los Angeles has a larger racial gap.

Additionally, no city has to deal with more set opinions about it than D.C. does. Only 17 percent of respondents to the poll said they had no real opinion about the city; the biggest group of “not sure” respondents was Portland’s 37 percent.

PPP Release US 042012