Who's more popular than Aaron Rodgers?

Last month PPP found that Green Bay Packers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was viewed favorably by 89% of voters in Wisconsin, a record high level of popularity in all our polling across the country.  It got us to wondering- can anyone top that? So on our national poll last weekend we tested a bunch of figures with near universal appeal in order to find an answer to that question.

2 people managed to beat Rodgers by exceeding the 90% mark for popularity.  Abraham Lincoln is seen positively by 91% of Americans compared to only 2% with an unfavorable opinion. And Jesus Christ has a 90% favorability rating with only 3% of voters seeing him in a negative light.  With Republicans Jesus is at a 96/0 spread, which suffice it to say is a first in our polling.

As impressive as Jesus and Lincoln's numbers are, the person Americans expressed the highest opinion of in our poll is...themselves.  We asked the question 'Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of yourself?' and 93% gave themselves a positive rating to only 1% with a negative one.  We are a psychologically healthy nation...or an arrogant one...you can probably argue that whichever way you want.

Two other people beat the 80% favorability mark but fell short of Rodgers' 89%. One was George Washington at 86% rating him favorably to 3% with an unfavorable opinion. Holding him back is only a 64% favorability with African Americans, who may have pause about his status as a slave holder. Also falling short is Mother Theresa at an 83/5 spread.

Here's the rest of the folks we polled:

-74% rate Martin Luther King Jr. favorably to 10% with a negative opinion. He's at 95/3 with African Americans, but only 69/11 with whites.

-67% rate positively Santa Claus to 13% with a negative opinion. Perhaps his gift giving has been kinder to Republicans, 75% of whom give him good marks, than it has been to Democrats, only 61% of whom give a favorable rating.

-Mohandas Gandhi and Nelson Mandela both have 64% favorability ratings with 26-27% of voters not having an opinion about them one way or the other. There's a huge party divide in Mandela's numbers with 78% of Democrats but only 46% of Republicans giving him good marks.

-62% of Americans see Steve Jobs favorably to just 10% with a negative opinion. Out of everyone we polled he's the least polarizing along party lines- 62% of Democrats and 61% of Republicans and independents give him good marks. I guess iPhones are a great unifier.

So sorry Aaron Rodgers, you can't beat Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ. But taking down George Washington, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Santa Claus, Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Steve Jobs isn't too bad for your 4th season as a starting quarterback.

Full results here

Comments

[jpmassar]

Next time try Walter Cronkite.

[madjoy]

Is anyone else disturbed that only 69% of white Americans approve of Martin Luther King, Jr.?!

[Miles Coleman]

Try Drew Brees/Sean Payton/Les Miles the next time you poll Louisiana. They should be up there as well.

[dominic]

>>2

Disturbed? Yes. Surprised? No.

[Obama 2012]

It's surprising that Republicans like Jesus so much considering if you actually read what he preached he was a socialist hippie liberal.

[Pat]

No, but I am more disturbed about the numbers for George Washington! Only 64% among African Americans approve of the founder of our Country, and one of the greatest generals in our nations history, leading the men who fought for our freedom. Now that disturbes me!

[David Reid]

@madjoy people seem to forget this. But A LOT of folks were alive before 1968 and remember all those folk on the other side of the picket lines? So no not surprised King only polls at 69% among whites. I bet most of those apposed/negative are older whites who to paraphrase Trent Lott "if Strom had been elected we wouldn't have had all these problems, all these years".

[John Brown]

@pat, um, whose "freedom" was George Washington fighting for? Sure wasn't for blacks. George Washington was a slave owner who as president signed into law bills that allowed slave owners to recapture their slaves in all parts of the US. Granted, Washington eventually came to abhor slavery as an institution, but even at his death he owned over 300 slaves. Not really a big shock to me that blacks don't find Washington quite as admirable as do whites. Actually, I'm surprised that it's as high as 64%.

[Dustin Ingalls]

MLK does indeed only have a favorability rating in the 50s with the over-65 voters, if you look at the crosstabs.

[Henry]

I'd quite like to see polls attempting to find the least popular people. Try Hitler, Stalin, bin Laden, Satan, Judas, etc.

[Henry]

Also, I wonder if "your mother" would have polled even higher than "yourself", since the number of depressed people may be higher than those who dislike their mothers. It would also allow for a crude joke where you say "I have a favorable opinion of your mom too".

[Jim]

I think your a bunch of idiots. Typical media they don't have nothing to write about so they right about something stupid.

[The Globalizer]

Interestingly, I prefer Aaron Rodgers to both Lincoln and Jesus, and I'm not even a Packers fan.

[Yahzi]

Republicans are more favorable to an old, bearded white guy with magic powers that gives presents to "good" people.

I'm shocked. So shocked.

Isn't all that gift-giving against their libertarian principles? Shouldn't those kids have to earn their rewards, instead of creating a culture of entitlement every Dec 25th?

[Leslie]

@David Reid - If you look into the actual data, the story is more nuanced than this. People who describe themselves as "very liberal" are more likely to have an unfavorable view of MLK than whites or the very conservative for that matter. Interesting interpretation bias in this article. Race is presented as the dominant factor for MLK having an unfavorable rating when it is clearly age is by far the biggest factor with many other factors being more important than race.