Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Article No. 5614 Available on www.roymorgan.com Link to Roy Morgan Profiles

Monday, 2 June 2014 Hugh, Oprah, Ellen or Gough? Australia’s most admired, part 2

Recently, we revealed that US President Barack Obama was the public figure most admired by Australians in 2013 — one of seven politicians (foreign and home-grown) to feature among the 10 people Aussies admire the most. But while the current Budget frenzy may suggest otherwise, there’s more to life than politics, and plenty of non-political public figures also inspired our admiration last year…

That’s entertainment

Entertainers are the second-most admired category, with 20.1% of Aussies naming at least one person from this field. Generation Z is by far the group most likely to nominate an entertainer (39.5%) as one of their most admired public figures; Pre-Boomers (5.0%) the least likely.

Australia’s own Hugh Jackman tops the list of most admired entertainers, ahead of a cavalcade of US stars: Oprah Winfrey, Ellen Degeneres, Angelina Jolie and Pink. All are more popular with women than men, and all were named more often than esteemed political figures such as Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke.

What kind of public figures do Australians admire most?

Total Australians who named someone from Category Most admired in category category

1 Political figures 64.7% Barack Obama IMMEDIATERELEASE

2 Entertainers 20.1% Hugh Jackman 3 Prominent Australians 17.2% Dick Smith

4 Religious figures 12.4% Dalai Lama FOR 5 Sportspeople 10.9% Michael Clarke 6 Royalty 10.4% The Queen 7 Governor Generals 6.5% Quentin Bryce 8 World business 6.3% Bill Gates 9 Media 6.1% David Attenborough 10 World figures 2.3% Aung San Suu Kyi

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), Jan 2013- Dec 2013, n= 10,209. Base: Australians 14+ who named at least one public figure. Respondents were asked: ‘Please write down the names of 3 public figures you admire the most’. Home-grown heroes

‘Prominent Australians’ is another popular category, with entrepreneur Dick Smith being the most admired (sharp-eyed readers will remember he actually made it into the overall Top 10, with 4.0% of Aussies 14+ considering him one of their most admired public figures).

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Hot on his heels was media trailblazer, businesswoman and 2013 Australian of the Year, Ita Buttrose. Nominated by 3.8% of Australians as one of the public figures they most admire, she is especially respected by women and her peers in the Boomer generations.

Among the other prominent Australians who inspired admiration in 2013 are several medical identities (epidemiologist Fiona Stanley, neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, ophthalmologist Fred Hollows, plastic surgeon Fiona Wood) and scientist Tim Flannery.

Good sports or good god?

Perhaps surprisingly, sportspeople are only the fifth-most admired category. Headed up by

cricketer Michael Clarke (0.9%, or 52nd place), nearly 50 sports stars rated a mention, the

overwhelming majority of them male. Just three women made the list: swimmer Dawn Fraser

E E and athletes Cathy Freeman and Sally Pearson. But then, only 7.7% of Australian women named a sportsperson as one of their most admired public figures (compared with 14.2% of men).

The chart below shows the sportspeople named most frequently by respondents, and gives an indication of their relatively low rating compared to public figures in other fields.

Sporting identities named most often

Total Australians who name him/her as Sportsperson Ratio of female to male admirers most admired 1 Michael Clarke 0.9% 8.7% : 91.3%

2 Roger Federer 0.7% 50.1% : 49.9%

3 Steve Waugh 0.7% 27.4% : 72.6%

4 Glen McGrath 0.6% 55.8% : 44.2%

5 Dawn Fraser 0.6% 74.0% : 26.0%

6 Shane Crawford 0.6% 55.5% : 44.5%

7 Ricky Ponting 0.5% 25.3% : 74.7%

8 Cathy Freeman 0.5% 84.6% : 15.4% FOR FOR IMMEDIATERELEAS

9 Adam Gilchrist 0.5% 17.5% : 82.5%

10 Cadel Evans 0.4% 37.6% : 62.4%

Meanwhile, 12.4% of the population name at least one religious figure in their most admired list. In fact, three of them — the Dalai Lama, the Pope and Tim Costello — all made it into Australia’s Top 20 most admired list.

The best of the rest: Australia’s other most admired public figures, 2013 Total Australians who name him/her Public figure Ratio of female to male admirers as most admired 11 Ita Buttrose 3.8% 81.6% : 18.4% 12 Dalai Lama 3.8% 60.3% : 39.7% 13 Bill Gates 3.6% 31.8% : 68.2% 14 Bob Brown 3.4% 41.9% : 58.1% 15 Hugh Jackman 2.9% 57.2% : 42.8%

16 The Pope 2.8% 50.7% : 49.3%

17 Tim Costello 2.6% 53.0% : 47.0% E E 18 Paul Keating 2.4% 32.7% : 67.3% 19 Oprah Winfrey 2.2% 72.6% : 27.4% 20 Ellen Degeneres 2.0% 87.5% : 12.5%

Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“While there’s no doubt that politicians are more admired than any other category of public figure, it’s interesting to explore what other categories rate highly, and who else Australians most admire.

“Younger Australians (Gens Z, Y and sometimes X), especially women, frequently nominate entertainers as their most admired public figures, which explains why four of the five most popular entertainers are female. Sportspeople tend to be most admired by men, which is also reflected in who they’ve named.

“It’s also enlightening to compare how public figures from different categories rate in

the admiration stakes. For example, more Aussies name Angelina Jolie (1.7%) as one of FOR FOR IMMEDIATERELEAS their most admired public figures than those who nominate, say, Fiona Stanley (1.5%). People from scientific and medical fields tend not to be named as often as higher profile identities.

“Admittedly, the percentages become quite small once we delve beyond the Top 10. But it’s worth noting that they’d almost certainly be higher if respondents were given an exhaustive list of names and asked to choose from that. The fact that Australians have named their most admired public figures without any prompting is very significant.”

For comments or more information please contact:

Michele Levine CEO, Roy Morgan Research Office: +61 (3) 9224 5215 [email protected]

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Margin of Error

The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.

Sample Size Percentage Estimate 40%-60% 25% or 75% 10% or 90% 5% or 95% 5,000 ±1.4 ±1.2 ±0.8 ±0.6 7,500 ±1.1 ±1.0 ±0.7 ±0.5 10,000 ±1.0 ±0.9 ±0.6 ±0.4 20,000 ±0.7 ±0.6 ±0.4 ±0.3 50,000 ±0.4 ±0.4 ±0.3 ±0.2

FOR FOR IMMEDIATERELEAS