THE HARRIS POLL #40, August 15, 2001

America's Heroes

by Humphrey Taylor

When a nationwide cross section of adults was asked to name people they thought of as heroes, without reviewing a list or having any names suggested to them, the person mentioned most often was Jesus Christ. He is followed by Martin Luther King, Colin Powell, John F. Kennedy and Mother Teresa in that order.

These are the results of The Harris Poll, a Harris Interactive survey based on a nationwide telephone sample of 1,022 adults surveyed between July 20 – 25, 2001. The survey found that only just over half (57%) of all the people mentioned as heroes were public figures. Substantial numbers mentioned their fathers (13%), their mothers (9%) or other relatives and friends.

Places six to ten in this pantheon of heroes are Ronald Reagan (#6), Abraham Lincoln (#7), John Wayne (#8), Michael Jordan (#9), and Bill Clinton (#10). President George W. Bush placed 19^th on the list; his father George W. Bush is in 31^st place. Only four of the top-ten are still living: Colin Powell, Ronald Reagan, Michael Jordan and Bill Clinton.

Colin Powell's #3 ranking is extraordinary. He is the only person in the top five who is still alive, and the only person in the top 13 who is fully employed (Oprah Winfrey comes in at #14).

It is also remarkable that African-Americans hold the top two places after Jesus Christ, and that ten of the top 30 are African-Americans, African (Nelson Mandela) or are of a mixed race (Tiger Woods). In addition to those already mentioned, the top 30 includes Jesse Jackson (#22), Malcolm X (#24), Muhammad Ali (#27) and Venus Williams (#28).

Two founding fathers make the top 30, George Washington (#13) and Thomas Jefferson (#25), as do ten presidents (Kennedy, Reagan, Lincoln, Clinton, Washington, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Bush, Carter and Jefferson).

Other very interesting findings in this poll include:

• People say they have many reasons for naming people as heroes. The reasons given most often are "not giving up until goals are accomplished," "doing what's right regardless of personal consequences" and "doing more than what other people expected."
  
• When people were asked to name people who used to be their heroes but no longer are, the largest number of people mentioned Bill Clinton, followed by John F. Kennedy, O.J. Simpson, Jesse Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt.
  
• The reasons given most often to explain why former heroes are no longer heroes are that they "conduct(ed) themselves in an immoral or unethical way" and that they "became too concerned about gaining personal recognition."

HEROES - SUMMARY

"Now I'd like to ask you some questions about heroes. First of all, please tell me who you admire enough to call a hero?" (UP TO THREE ANSWERS)

NOTE: Not sure/no heroes excluded.

HEROES WHO ARE PUBLIC FIGURES

(Spontaneous, Unprompted Replies)

(All mentioned by 1% or more of adults)

MAJOR REASONS FOR THINKING PEOPLE AS HEROES

"Thinking about all the people you mentioned as heroes – either family, friends or people in public life – please think about the person you most admire. Do you admire this person for (READ EACH ITEM). Is this a major reason, a minor reason or not a reason at all?"

FORMER PUBLIC FIGURE HEROES WHO ARE NO LONGER CONSIDERED HEROES

"Is there any person you can think of whom you used to consider a hero but now do not?"

(All mentioned by 1% or more of adults)

MAJOR REASONS FOR THINKING FORMER HEROES ARE NO LONGER HEROES

"Thinking about this person whom you longer consider a hero, please tell me how much each of the following is a reason why you do no longer admire this person. Do you not admire this person because they (READ EACH ITEM)? Is this a major reason, a minor reason or not a reason at all?

This issue of The Harris Poll was conducted by telephone within the United States between July 20 – 25, 2001, among a nationwide cross section of 1,022 adults. Figures for age, sex, race, education, number of adults and number of voice/telephone lines in the household were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.

In theory, with a probability sample of this size, one can say with 95% percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is difficult or impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.

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