Since 1946, the Gallup polling organization has conducted an annual survey that serves to nail down the man and woman who Americans admire the most.
As NPR reported , you could generally expect American presidents and first ladies to find their way in the people’s top 10 choices since this poll has began. And as NBC 12 reported , Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower set a longevity record as the country’s most admired man after he achieving that honor 12 times throughout his career.
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And while it seemed like another popular figure was set to break that record, this year sees the top spot go to someone who had never won it before.
For the past 12 years, Former President Barack Obama had been named the most admired man in the nation.
As NPR reported , Gallup reached this conclusion following a series of annual telephone interviews with a random sample of adults that took place over the first weeks of December.
But when 1,018 adults answered the pollsters’ questions this year, Obama no longer found himself in the number one spot.
The same could not be said for his wife, Former First Lady Michelle Obama.
As NBC 12 reported , Obama has come out on top as America’s most admired woman for the third year in a row with Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris serving as the runner-up.
First Lady Melania Trump came in third among these rankings and Oprah Winfrey took fourth place.
So who’s the most admired man in America now? None other than President Donald Trump.
According to NPR , this change in popularity apparently resulted from the fact that 48% of Republicans chose Trump as their most admired man with nobody else receiving more than 2% of the vote among them.
By contrast, Democrats seemed to be split on whether they admired Obama — who was chosen by 32% of them — or President-Elect Joe Biden more. Biden would be selected by 13% of Democrats.
This vote splitting gave Trump a 3% lead on his predecessor with 18% of the nation at large naming him as their most admired man.
If that seems low, it’s worth noting that not every American chooses a political leader as their most admired person.
In fact, NPR reported that 20% of the people polled didn’t even offer an opinion as to who they admire the most. Additionally, it’s not uncommon for Americans to name a friend or relative as their most admired person, which was the case for 11% of the men chosen and 16% of the women chosen.
Citizens also showed significant admiration for Dr. Anthony Fauci, Pope Francis, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and the Dalai Lama, who rounded out most of the men’s top 10.
And in the case of the country’s most admired women, it seems there was a tie for fifth place.
As NPR reported , this tie was between Queen Elizabeth II, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton, and Congressional Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. All four of these women received 2% of the total vote.
For her part, Queen Elizabeth has long set a record in this poll as she found herself in the top 10 of the country’s most admired women 52 times. The late evangelist Reverend Billy Graham achieved a similar honor among the men as he’s ended up in America’s top 10 candidates 61 times.
So while we’ve seen some changes in the lineup over the years, the list will always see some familiar faces.
