More popular than Jesus, more hated than Satan

Good morning, Mr. President.

Published January 3, 2007 1:57PM (EST)

The good news for George W. Bush: When Associated Press/Ipsos pollsters asked Americans at the end of December to name a "famous person" as their "biggest hero of the year," more of them chose the president than anyone else.

The bad news for Bush? Only 13 percent of them picked him.

The good news for Bush? At 13 percent, he outdrew both Barack Obama and Jesus Christ, who each checked in at 3 percent.

The really bad news for Bush? When the same pollsters asked Americans to name a "famous person" as their "biggest villain of the year," 25 percent of them volunteered the president's name. That put Bush way out in front on the biggest-villain list. Rounding out the most villainous five: Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il, who combined couldn't match Bush's 25 percent level.

The good news for the Democrats? John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Bill Clinton each drew "most villainous" votes from 1 percent of the respondents -- which is to say, the same number drawn by Paris Hilton, Donald Trump and the devil.


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

MORE FROM Tim Grieve


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