Gregory Korte

USA TODAY

President Obama has retained his status as the most admired man in America for the ninth year in a row, edging out successor Donald Trump, according to Gallup's annual survey.

Among women, Hillary Clinton remains the most admired woman in the country.

Since Gallup started asking the question in 1946, incumbent presidents have dominated the list, winning 58 of the 70 times that Gallup has asked the question. The last exception was Obama himself, who received the honor as president-elect in 2009.

Obama's ninth consecutive year at the top of the list puts him in second place all time, behind president Dwight Eisenhower, who won the distinction 12 years.

Gallup asked 1,028 people an open-ended question: "What man that you have heard or read about, living today in any part of the world, do you admire most?" Of the respondents, 22% picked Obama and 15% chose Trump.

It's the second year in a row that Trump reached the No. 2 spot. Gallup said Obama's strong showing was propelled by his popularity within his own party: 50% of Democrats named Obama as most admired, compared with 34% of Republicans choosing Trump.

Following Obama and Trump on the top 10 list were Pope Francis (4%), Sen. Bernie Sanders (2%), the Rev. Billy Graham (1%), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (1%), the Dalai Lama (1%), former president Bill Clinton (1%), Microsoft founder Bill Gates (1%) and Vice President-elect Mike Pence (1%).

After Clinton, the most admired women were first lady Michelle Obama (8%), German Chancellor Angela Merkel (3%), television mogul Oprah Winfrey (3%), television host Ellen DeGeneres (2%), Queen Elizabeth (2%), women's rights activist Malala Yousafzai (2%), former secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (2%), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (2%) and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (1%).

Clinton was the most admired woman for the 15th consecutive year, and the 21st year overall — the most years at the top of the list of any woman in the poll's history. Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt was most admired for 13 years.

The telephone survey was conducted Dec. 7-11 and had a margin of error of ±4 percentage points.

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