Mrs Obama wins America’s ‘most admired woman’ title

Former US first lady Michelle Obama has ended Hillary Clinton's 17-year run as America's most admired woman.

The lawyer, author, and activist won the 2018 poll convincingly, securing 15 percent of the mentions among the 1,025 of people surveyed.

Scoring 5 percent, TV personality Oprah Winfrey was second in the annual poll compiled by Gallup, while former Secretary of State Clinton dropped two places to third, and current first lady Melania Trump finished fourth.

The Queen finished in the top 10 for the 50th time, Gallup said.

Michelle Obama is currently touring the world to promote her recently released autobiography “Becoming.”

Former President Barack Obama was the most admired man for the 11th year in a row. President Donald Trump finished second for the fourth consecutive year.

The poll has been carried out every year since 1946, with the exception of 1976.

The 1,025 adults surveyed were asked to name the man and woman living anywhere in the world whom they admire the most.

Mrs Clinton, a former US Democratic senator and secretary of state who ran for the White House in 2016, has come top of the list 22 times including the past 17 years in a row.

Although Oprah Winfrey has never finished top she has been second on 14 occasions.

If Mr Obama comes top again next year he will tie with the record holder - former president Dwight Eisenhower who won the most admired man title 12 times, Gallup said.

Mr Trump is, so far, one of only two presidents not to have won the title while in office, the other being Gerald Ford.

Gallup said that the Rev. Billy Graham, who passed away in 2018, has the most top 10 finishes of any man or woman, a record 61 times.

Results for the poll were based on telephone interviews conducted between December 3-12 and were spread across all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.