President Obama Is Still The Most Admired Man In America, Gallup Poll Finds
Despite his departure from the White House in January, a poll from research firm Gallup has found that former President Barack Obama is still the most admired man in America. The poll, which surveyed over 1,000 people across all 50 states, saw 17 percent of respondents cite Obama as the man they most held admiration for. The same poll also surveyed respondents' answers for the woman they most admired.
Hillary Clinton finished first in that category.
This year now marks the 10th in a row that former President Obama has resulted as the most likely name Americans would cite when asked who they admired most. The first year that he finished on top in the survey was 2008, when the then U.S. senator had won his first presidential election after just one term in the Senate. His latest finish atop Gallup's annual most-admired poll comes after he finished his second tenure in the White House with an approval rating over 60 percent, per CNN's polling.
President Donald Trump finishing second among men most likely to be cited by Americans as the most admired. Like Obama, Trump rose to the top of Gallup's polling in this specific category after launching his candidacy for president of the United States back in 2015. That year, Trump finished second behind Obama in Gallup's poll, with 5 percent of respondents citing him as the man they most admired. This year, his second place finish came with a much higher percentage of Americans giving him their vote in the poll, with 14 percent of people survey labeling him the most admired man. Last year, 15 percent of people surveyed by Gallup did the same, which was enough for another second place finish.
Gallup also asked respondents to cite the woman they most admired, too. In that category, Hillary Clinton was once again the most popular answer, with 9 percent of people surveyed citing the former secretary of state as their answer.
Clinton's run as most admired is even longer than Obama's. 2017 marks the 16th year in a row that Americans surveyed by the research firm have said Clinton is the most admired, a run which stretches back to 2001, the year she and former President Bill Clinton left the White House.
According to Gallup, Hillary Clinton has won the top vote among respondents for a total of 22 years.
Other Notable Names
Like Clinton back in 2001, Michelle Obama is among the most cited names for Gallup's most admired women in a year in which her time as first lady came to a close. Michelle Obama also finished second in Gallup's survey in 2016, during which she made multiple campaign stops to try and help Clinton win the president election. This year, 7 percent of people cited former First Lady Obama as the most admired woman. The year before yielded similar results. Eight percent of people surveyed by Gallup said Michelle Obama was the most admired woman they'd heard of.
The previous year, 2015, Michelle Obama tied for second with Oprah Winfrey, who has finished third in the survey for the past two years. 2017 marks the 30th time that Oprah has finished in the top 10 of the most admired women cited by Gallup respondents.
Among the list of men who finished behind Obama and Trump were other political figures, including Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and John McCain (R-AZ), as well as Vice President Mike Pence. Among women, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) finished as the fourth most admired woman, according to Gallup. Melania Trump, meanwhile finished eighth in 2017, which is the first year in which she's ranked among the top 10.
