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Gallup’s most admired man and woman poll is an annual poll that Gallup has conducted at the end of most years since 1948. Americans are asked, without prompting, to say what man and woman "living today in any part of the world, do [they] admire most?" The result is published as a top ten list. Most years the most admired man is the sitting President of the United States and the most admired woman is or has been the First Lady of the United States.
Contents
Trends and top finishers
Sitting U.S. presidents have captured the top spot for men in 58 out of 70 years. Through 2016, evangelist Billy Graham has had 60 appearances in the top 10, the most of anyone, with eight second-place finishes. The second most is Ronald Reagan with 31, and Jimmy Carter with 28 and Pope John Paul II with 27 follow. The sitting pope has finished in the top ten in every year since 1977.
Among women, the poll has shown Eleanor Roosevelt, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Hillary Clinton as U.S. First Ladies with the most appearances on the list. The high mark for top 10 appearances belongs to Queen Elizabeth II with 48 through 2016. The high mark for most appearances at number 1, the most admired woman in the world, belongs to Hillary Clinton who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, United States Senator representing New York from 2001 to 2009, First Lady of the United States during the presidency of Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001, and First Lady of Arkansas from 1983 to 1992. She has ranked first for 21 of the past 24 years (1993–2016).
Winners, 1946 to 2016
These are the most admired men and women of each year. For poll results since 1996, the list below includes the percentage of Americans who named them as the men or women they admire above all others alive in the world.
Most admired woman not asked
1976
Not asked
Sources: 1997–2003 2004–2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2010 and 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015