Michelle Obama Tops List of Most Admired Women As Hillary Clinton and Melania Trump Tie for Third
According to the results of a new Gallup poll, more Americans admire former First Lady Michelle Obama than they do former presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, marking the first time in 17 years that Clinton does not top the list of the country’s most admired women.
Obama, who has been on a coast-to-coast promotional tour for her newly released autobiography Becoming, was named by 15 percent of respondents to the survey.
Clinton fell to number three on the list, which was conducted between December 3 and December 12. Clinton shares the third-place slot with First Lady Melania Trump, with each of their names coming up 4 percent of the time.
Oprah Winfrey came in second, generating 5 percent of the responses.
The survey is viewed as a test of name recognition, and considered something of a polarization barometer. Former President Barack Obama tops the list of most admired men for the 11th consecutive year, with 19 percent of those surveyed naming him. His successor, President Donald Trump, came in second with 13 percent of the vote.
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Also among the most admired women this year is Queen Elizabeth, who placed in the top 10 for a record 50th time, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, human rights activist Malala Yousafzai and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.
Rounding out the men’s top 10 are former President George W. Bush, Pope Francis, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former President Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama, former Vice President Joe Biden, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Vice President Mike Pence.
According to Gallup, the sitting president usually tops the list on the men’s side. Usually when the POTUS does not win, it is “when he has subpar job approval ratings, as is the case with Trump,” the organization says. “Trump and Gerald Ford are the two presidents to date who did not win the honor while in office.”
The poll said that 35 percent of Democrats named Obama their most admired man with 32 percent of Republicans naming Trump.
Michelle Obama was Democrats’ favorite woman, with 28 percent naming her, compared with 7 percent for Oprah and 7 percent for Clinton. Melania Trump was the top finisher among Republicans, at 9 percent, with Obama and Winfrey getting 5 percent each.
