Polls & Research

Giuliani is Highest Ranked U.S. Politician

(Angus Reid Global Scan) - Many adults in the United States hold a favourable opinion of Rudy Giuliani, according to a poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. Respondents gave the former New York City mayor a mean rating of 63.5, the highest among 19 politicians surveyed.

Giuliani garnered national and international attention in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The former mayor has been mentioned as a possible Republican nominee in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

Democratic Illinois senator Barack Obama, U.S. state secretary Condoleezza Rice and Republican Arizona senator John McCain were the only other persons who surpassed the 50-point mark. Democratic New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was next with 49.9, followed by former Democratic North Carolina senator John Edwards with 49.4, and Democratic Delaware senator Joseph Biden with 48.8.

U.S. president George W. Bush earned a rating of 42.9, followed by Republican Tennessee senator Bill Frist with 41.8, defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld with 41.5, and vice-president Dick Cheney—the lowest ranked politician on the list—with 40.5.

Obama and Biden were unknown to 55 per cent of respondents. More than seven-in-ten Americans could not form an opinion on Democratic Indiana senator Evan Bayh, former Virginia governor Mark Warner and Republican Virginia senator George Allen.

Polling Data

I'd like to get your feelings toward some of our political leaders and other people who have been in the news. I'll read the name of a person and I'd like you to rate that person using something called the feeling thermometer. You can choose any number between 0 and 100. The higher the number, the warmer or more favourable you feel toward that person, the lower the number, the colder or less favourable. If we come to a person who you haven't heard enough about to form an opinion, you don't need to rate the person. Just tell me and we'll move on to the next one.