The Most Popular People in America--the PPP survey

PPP conducted a poll last week that found that Green Bay Packers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was viewed favorably by 89% of voters in Wisconsin, a record high level of popularity in any of the PPP polls for anywhere in the country. So PPP decided this weekend to test a bunch of figures with nearly universal appeal to test this out.

Abraham Lincoln is seen positively by 91% of Americans compared to only 2% with an unfavorable rating.

Jesus Christ has a 90% favorable rating with only 3% seeing him in an unfavorable light. With Republicans, Jesus is at a 96 to 0 spread, the first in PPP polling of any sort.

The highest rating was for --yourself. Americans were asked whether they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of themselves. 93% gave themselves positive and only 1% negative.

George Washington ranks at 86% with 3% unfavorable. But African-Americans only ranked him at 64% favorable because he was a slave-holder.

Mother Teresa, not withstanding Christopher Hitchens' reservations, has a 83 to 5 spread.

74% rate Martin Luther King Jr. favorably with a 10% unfavorably rating. He's 95% favorable and 3% not among African-Americans. Only 69% to 11% among whites.

67% rate positively Santa Claus with 13% negatively. Among Republicans, Santa gets 75% against 61% for Democrats.

Mohatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela both have a 64% favorability rating but with 26-27% of voters not knowing who they are. 78% of Democrats give Mandela high favorably ratings compared to 46% for Republicans.

62% of Americans see Steve Jobs favorably with just 10% negative. PPP found that Steve Jobs was the least polarizing figure along party lines--62% for Democrats and 61% of Republicans and Independents.