Michelle Obama named most admired woman for third straight year: poll

Former first lady Michelle Obama was named the most admired woman in the U.S. for the third consecutive year, according to Gallup polling released Tuesday.

Ten percent of Americans named Obama as their most-admired woman, followed by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, the first woman elected to the office, with 6 percent. First lady Melania Trump received 4 percent of the vote, followed by Oprah Winfrey with 3 percent. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Queen Elizabeth I all received 2 percent each.

A current or former first lady has been named the most admired woman 57 of the 71 times Gallup has polled the question since 1948. While Trump has made the top 10 for four consecutive years, she has yet to take the top spot, even as her husband was named most admired man for the first time this year. Lady Bird Johnson and Bess Truman are the only other first ladies not to have made the top spot.

Rounding out the top 10 were Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and climate activist Greta Thunberg, both of whom received 1 percent support each.

Numerous other women received 1 percent but did not make the top 10 because they were mentioned less frequently than Thunberg or Barrett. They included former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, activist Malala Yousafzai, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, singer and philanthropist Dolly Parton and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Among both Democrats and Republicans, figures from their own party were the highest-ranking women. Eight percent of Republicans named Trump, followed by Barrett and Haley with 4 percent each. Seventeen percent of Democrats named Obama, followed by 16 percent who named Harris and 5 percent who named Ocasio-Cortez. Eleven percent of independents named Obama, while 4 percent named Trump.

Pollsters surveyed 1,018 adults from Dec. 1 to 17. The poll has margin of error of error of 4 percentage points.