Public Policy Polling, the North Carolina-based firm that also queried Americans about hipsters, is attempting to settle yet another burning issue.

According to a new poll of Virginia voters, 41 percent of residents of the Old Dominion think that GIF—as in the file extension for computer images showing simple animations, often of scenes from movies and television shows—should be pronounced with a hard “g” sound.

The pronunciation of GIF, which is an acronym for graphics interchange format, has been something of a recent hotbed on the Internet, with fans of the frequently shared images getting belligerent over whether it should be said with a “g” or “j” sound. For the record, Steve Wilhite, who created the file format in 1987 while working for the early online service provider CompuServe, told The New York Times last week that he prefers “jif” to “gif.”

Unfortunately for Wilhite, his opinion is shared by only 17 percent of Virginia residents who responded to Public Policy Polling’s query. Although Virginia is increasingly purple on the electoral map, when it comes to this critical issue, the state has weighed down quite firmly.

Or has it? Perhaps there is room for Wilhite’s position to grow, as the remaining 42 percent of respondents had no opinion on the matter.

Elsewhere in the survey, Public Policy Polling asked voters their opinions about Sen. Mark Warner, a first-term Democrat who faces re-election next year. Fifty-three percent said they approve of their former governor-turned-U.S. senator, and Warner would have an 11-percentage point edge in a hypothetical matchup with Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican whose term ends at the end of 2013.

The poll also found widespread support for increased background checks on gun purchases, with 66 percent of Republicans saying they agreed with that position, while 80 percent say employers should not be allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Attorney General Ken “the Cooch” Cuccinelli, the Republican Party’s nominee in this year’s gubernatorial election, has pushed for the state’s public colleges and universities to end their protections for people’s sexual orientations. Public Policy Polling did not ask about the governor’s race.

But yeah, the GIF question, keeping up Public Policy Polling’s sterling reputation as the polling house to go to when you need your pop culture questions answered voters with land lines.

The poll surveyed 672 Virginia voters between May 24 and 26 and was not paid for by any campaign or political organization. The poll carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percent.

Also, here’s a GIF! (Editor’s note: The editor-in-chief of DCist prefers a hard “g” sound.)