Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Again Top Gallup Most Admired Poll

Former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the Democrat who wanted to become the nation’s first female president, once again topped Gallup’s poll as the man and woman living anywhere in the world that Americans most admire. This is the 16th consecutive year Clinton has held the title of most admired woman — she has topped the poll 22 times, more times than anyone else. Obama has held the most admired man title 10 consecutive times, two fewer times than the former record holder, Dwight Eisenhower, who topped it a dozen times.

In this year’s poll, Obama edged out President Donald Trump 17 percent to 14 percent. Clinton was a favorite over former first lady Michelle Obama, 9 percent to 7 percent, for the most admired woman.

Though still admired, the former president and the would-be president topped the poll by smaller margins than in the past. Last year, for example, 22 percent of Americans said Obama was the man they most admired, and 12 percent said Clinton was the woman they most admired.

This year, Gallup said, 25 percent of Americans couldn’t name a man or woman that they admired. And a relative or friend was listed as he most admired woman or man by 13 percent and 9 percent of Americans, respectively. Republicans were more likely than Democrats and independents to name a relative or friend as a person they most admired.

Some other findings from the Gallup survey of 1,049 randomly selected adults living in the United States conducted Dec. 4-11:

Trump joins a small circle of presidents who have never topped the “most admired” poll, which Gallup has conducted 71 times since 1946 (there was no poll in 1976). In 58 of those polls, the incumbent president has been the most admired man. Others who did not finish first were Harry Truman (1946-1947 and 1950-1952), Lyndon Johnson (1967-1968), Richard Nixon (1973), Gerald Ford (1974-1975), Jimmy Carter (1980) and George W. Bush (2008).

The poll showed deep partisan divides. Among Republicans, Trump was the most admired man, compared with only 1 percent for Obama. Among Democrats, 39 percent said they most admired Obama most, compared to 3 percent who said they admired Trump most. Among independents, Obama edged out Trump, 12 percent to 9 percent.

Among Democrats, 22 percent said Clinton was the most-admired woman, followed by Michelle Obama at 12 percent. Eight percent of independents said they admired the former first lady, compared with 5 percent who admired Clinton most. Among Republicans, no woman topped 5 percent — former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice under the George W. Bush administration got 4 percent and current U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, First Lady Melania Trump and Clinton each were named by 3 percent of Republicans.

Missing from the top 10 list of finishers is former President Bill Clinton, whose 25-year stretch ended this year. Clinton was the most admired man during each of the eight years he was president, from 1993 to 2000.

» Read more about the Gallup Poll here.

Photos of Barack Obama by Rich Fury/Invision/AP; Hillary Clinton by Greg Allen/Invision/AP