President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were named as the world's most admired living man and woman in 2013 by Americans, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday, Reuters reported.
A typical ranking for a current U.S. president, Obama topped the annual list for the sixth consecutive year, said the polling organization. Down from 30 percent in 2012, only 16 percent this year chose the President as the most admired man.
With a year marked by a botched healthcare rollout and stalled legislative initiatives at the start of his second term, the president's approval rate was expected to drop, Reuters reported. The top spot among most admired women was taken by Clinton for the 12th consecutive year and 18th time overall, more than any other woman in the poll's history.
According to Reuters, 15 percent of Americans surveyed gave the former first lady and U.S. senator the highest ranking, down from 21 percent who named her as the most admired woman last year, the poll showed. The poll surveyed 1,031 adults between Dec. 5 and 8, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, said Gallup.
Former U.S. presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter; Pope Francis and the Reverend Billy Graham; actor and director Clint Eastwood; Microsoft Corp co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates; U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and former Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Ron Paul were some of the other men who earned a place in the list.
Women included talk show host Oprah Winfrey, first lady Michelle Obama, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and actress Angelina Jolie, Reuters reported. Also on the list were German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, and Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban for demanding education for girls.
