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Gallup, an American analytics and advisory company, conducted an annual
opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of qu ...
to determine the most admired man and woman in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
at the end of most years from 1946 to 2020. Americans are asked, without prompting, to say which man and woman "living today in any part of the world" they admire the most. The results of the poll were published as a top ten list. In most years, the most admired man was the incumbent
president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
, and the most admired woman was the first lady. The incumbent president was the most admired man in 58 of the 72 years in which the poll was conducted.
Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
and
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
have each been the most admired man 12 times. In his lifetime, the evangelist
Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (; November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American Evangelism, evangelist, ordained Southern Baptist minister, and Civil rights movement, civil rights advocate, whose broadcasts and world tours featuring liv ...
had 61 appearances in the top-ten list, the most of any individual, and 8 second-place finishes. Other men with many appearances are
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
(31),
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
(28), and
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...
(27). The incumbent
pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
has finished in the top-ten list every year since 1977. The survey has been considered, in part, to be a test of
name recognition In politics, name recognition is the ability a voter has to identify a candidate's name due to a certain amount of previous exposure through various campaigning methods. It can be described as the awareness voters have about specific candidates r ...
. While the top of the list is often predictable, scholars have found appearances further down in the top ten to be illuminating. For instance, in 1958, Governor
Orval Faubus Orval Eugene Faubus ( ; January 7, 1910 – December 14, 1994) was an American politician who served as the List of governors of Arkansas, 36th Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967, as a member of the Democratic Party (United States), D ...
of Arkansas, a
segregationist Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by peopl ...
, appeared on the list in the wake of the
Little Rock Nine The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering th ...
civil-rights episode. A portion of those surveyed have chosen a friend or relative instead of a public figure. Two former first ladies have had the most appearances as the most admired woman:
Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...
and
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
. In the late 1940s and 1950s, Roosevelt was an ambassador to the United Nations, serving as the chair of the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) was a functional commission within the United Nations System, overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006. It was a ...
and leading the drafting of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...
, and was widely referred to as the "First Lady of the World". Clinton served as the first lady from 1993 to 2001, a senator from New York, the secretary of state, and was the first American female presidential nominee of either of the two major American political parties when she ran in the 2016 presidential election. Clinton topped the list in 22 of the 25 polls conducted during between 1993 and 2017, including 16 times in a row from 2002 to 2017, before
Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...
became the most admired woman in 2018. Roosevelt was named the most admired woman 13 times. The highest number of top-ten appearances belongs to Queen
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
, with 52. Despite never winning, broadcaster
Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...
has finished in the top ten a total of 33 times, including finishing second 14 times. There were two ties for the top position in the poll: in 1980,
Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...
and
Rosalynn Carter Eleanor Rosalynn Carter ( ; ; August 18, 1927 – November 19, 2023) was an American activist and humanitarian who served as the first lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981, as the wife of President Jimmy Carter. Throughout her decades of ...
tied for the most admired woman, and in 2019, Barack Obama and
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
shared the title of most admired man. For the years 1946 and 1947, the "most admired person" was asked; the "most admired woman" was not asked in 1967. No poll was conducted in 1976. The poll was last conducted in 2020, although Gallup has made no announcement about terminating the poll permanently.


Most admired man and woman


See also

* Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century


Note


References


External links


Gallup's most admired man and woman poll
– Gallup News {{Clear Opinion polling in the United States Top people lists Culture of the United States United States politics-related lists