Jesus Second Most Popular Person in America, Poll Finds

Jesus is the second most popular person in America, just behind Abraham Lincoln, a recent Public Policy Polling survey found.

Ninety one percent of Americans view Lincoln favorably, and Jesus weighs in at 90 percent. The national survey was taken to see if anyone in history could beat the level of popularity of Green Bay Packers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who gained a record-high 89 percent favorability in a survey last month of Wisconsin voters.

Notably, all Republicans had a favorable view of Jesus, according to the poll.

Besides specific people in history as well as those living today, the poll also asked participants how favorably they view themselves. Ninety three percent of respondents gave themselves a positive rating, and only 1 percent viewed themselves negatively.

“Americans have a very high opinion of themselves,” said Dean Debnam, president of PPP, in a statement. “You can argue that we’re a psychologically healthy nation … or you can argue that we’re an arrogant one. Either interpretation fits the numbers.”

The analysts at PPP, which is well-known for its surveys on political races, surveyed 800 American voters by telephone from Now. 10-13, 2011. The margin of error for the survey was +/-3.5 percent.

Other interesting results:

• Overall, 74 percent ranked Martin Luther King Jr., favorably. Of those, only 69 percent of whites favored him, while blacks favored King 95 percent.

• Lincoln wasn’t the only president to get high marks; George Washington was favored by 86 percent.

• Besides Jesus, religious icon Mother Teresa ranked highly as well at 83 percent, while Ghandi was only favored by 64 percent.