President Obama, Hillary Clinton Most Admired Among Americans

Pope Francis may be Time’s person of the year, but Americans have several other people that they admire more than the Catholic Church’s newest leader. According to a new Gallup poll, Barac...
President Obama, Hillary Clinton Most Admired Among Americans
Written by
  • Pope Francis may be Time’s person of the year, but Americans have several other people that they admire more than the Catholic Church’s newest leader.

    According to a new Gallup poll, Barack Obama is by far the man most admired by Americans. Of those polled, 16% mentioned the President when asked about the people they admire most. Obama has topped each year’s most-admired man poll since he was first elected U.S. president in 2008.

    Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the second most-admired person to Americans, with 15% of those surveyed mentioning her. According to Gallup this is Clinton’s 18th time as the most-admired woman over the past two decades. Other highly-admired women included Oprah Winfrey (6%), Michelle Obama (5%), Sarah Palin (5%), Condoleezza Rice (2%), and Malala Yousafzai (2%).

    Other men to make the list include former President George W. Bush (4%), Pope Francis (4%), former President Bill Clinton (2%), and the Reverend Billy Graham (2%).

    It is worth noting that Gallup’s polling was conducted in early December – after the President had come under scrutiny for both the troubled rollout of the Healthcare.gov website and his stance on the Syrian civil war. Though American admiration for Obama is far ahead of everyone but Hillary Clinton, the President is far less admired this year than in previous years. The people mentioning Obama as an admired figure this year was nearly half the 30% of Americans who mentioned him in 2012.

    Rounding out the most-admired women list are others who have all made the list is past years: Angela Merkel, Angelina Jolie, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Queen Elizabeth II, who has appeared in the top 10 of most-admired women 46 times since Gallup began tracking such responses in 1948.

    The list of most-admired men is filled out with the eclectic group of Bill Gates, Clint Eastwood, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Jimmy Carter, and Ted Cruz, the U.S. Senator from Texas who was instrumental in orchestrating the shutdown of the U.S. government this past October.

    Image via White House/Pete Souza

    Get the WebProNews newsletter delivered to your inbox

    Get the free daily newsletter read by decision makers

    Subscribe
    Advertise with Us

    Ready to get started?

    Get our media kit