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Rev. Billy Graham Makes Top 10 'Most Admired' List For 55th Time

Rev. Billy Graham poses for a portrait in 1968.
Getty Images
Rev. Billy Graham poses for a portrait in 1968.

Scroll down Gallup's report on its latest poll results about the most admired men and women living today and you come to this:

"The Rev. Billy Graham has never finished first, but has been in the top 10 more than any other man — 55 times since 1955." This year, Gallup puts Graham at No. 4. He was mentioned by 2 percent of those surveyed.

The year's most-admired man: President Obama, who has been atop the list four straight years. The most-admired woman: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been No. 1 for 10 years. Both were mentioned by 17 percent of those surveyed.

But it's the lists of "most top 10 finishes" that caught our eye. Among men, former President Reagan comes in at No. 2 with 31 top 10 finishes. Pope John Paul II and former President Carter are just behind him with 27 each.

Among women, Queen Elizabeth II has 44 top 10 finishes — ahead of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (with 33) and former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (with 28).

Thatcher and the queen are both on this year's list (which, as we said above, is about the most admired men and women "living today"). They each were mentioned by 2 percent of those polled. Carter is not on the list of most admired men living today.

As Gallup says, "both Graham, 93, and Queen Elizabeth II, 85, owe their long stretches of top 10 finishes to rising to prominence at fairly young ages and maintaining a loyal following during their long lives."

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.