Conservative "red" states have the highest levels of online pornography usage in the country, according to a study published last week. 

Utah leads the country with 5.47 subscribers per 1,000 broadband users, followed by Alaska (5.03) and Mississippi (4.30). California ranked 39th at 2.46.

People of 27 states that passed laws banning gay marriage boasted 11 percent more porn subscribers than states that don't explicitly restrict gay marriage.

The nationwide study by Benjamin Edelman at Harvard Business School was published in the American Economic Association's Journal of Economic Perspectives. 

Based on anonymous credit card receipts from a major online adult entertainment provider, the study revealed that the States that did consume the most porn tended to be more conservative and religious than those with lower levels of consumption.

The study also found those who were churchgoers bought less online porn on Sundays in one state, but expenditures on other days of the week brought them in line with the rest of the country.

"Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by," said Edelman.

Edelman reportedly received the credit card data from one of his unidentified consulting clients that runs dozens of adult websites.  The company gave him two years of data from 2006 to 2008 that included a purchase date and each customer's zip code.

In the November election, Sen. John McCain carried the porn vote.

Read the study (pdf) for yourself.

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