A survey released the day after Christmas shouldn't go unnoticed: Gallup's annual poll of Americans' most admired people put President-elect Barack Obama by far at the top of the list.

With 32 percent, he far outpaced President Bush at 5 percent and Republican presidential candidate John McCain at 3 percent for most admired man. Obama, who also has record-high approval ratings, is the first president-elect to top the list since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and his share of the total is close to the 39 percent that Bush received just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Hillary Clinton, Obama's main rival for the Democratic nomination and soon to be his secretary of state, topped the most admired woman list with 20 percent. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, perhaps somewhat surprisingly given some of the withering criticism directed her way, finished second at 11 percent, ahead of Oprah Winfrey at 8 percent, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at 7 percent and first lady to be Michelle Obama at 3 percent.

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