Bill Gates More Admired Than The Pope, Dalai Lama

Bill Gates More Admired Than The Pope, Dalai Lama

Americans admire philanthropist, billionaire, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates more than the Dalai Lama, Pope Benedict XVI, Jimmy Carter, Glenn Beck, and Reverend Bill Graham, according to the results of a USA Today/Gallup poll that asked Americans to choose the man they admire most. Obama topped the list of most admired men for the third year in a row. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton can celebrate her ninth consecutive year as the most admired woman.

While Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Nelson Mandela ranked ahead of Gates this year, the tech luminary has seen his "admirability" status rise over the last several years.

Pope Benedict XVI, Reverend Bill Graham, and Colin Powell all placed ahead of Gates on the 2008 list of most admired men, with 1 percent of respondents choosing the Microsoft chairman.

In 2005, the same year Gates was chosen as one of TIME's Persons of the Year, 3 percent of survey respondents chose Gates as the man they admired most--it was the highest share Gates has received to date.

See the full results of this year's USA Today/Gallup survey here.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot