New Poll Shows That PM Lee is S’pore’s 4th Most Admired Man; President Halimah Yacob is 7th Most Admired Woman

What is it about PM Lee that you appreciate the most?

Is it his long and awe-inspiring career? His wise composure in the face of crises? Or perhaps his magical glass of language-switching water?

Regardless, it seems PM Lee has given Singaporeans no shortage of reasons to look up to him. As a matter of fact, he is Singapore’s fourth most admired man, according to an annual survey by YouGov.

PM Lee Ranked Fourth on Most Admired Men List

The British international Internet-based market research and analytics firm released the results of the survey on 25 September 2020.

Topping the list is former US president Barack Obama, followed by Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates.

Taking the bronze is every girl’s favourite tycoon, Jack Ma, who made affordable goods accessible worldwide on unprecedented scales.

Then, we arrive at number four, where PM Lee holds an admiration score of 7.92%. Apparently, he has moved up four spots from his ranking last year. He is also the only Singaporean man to make it into top ten.

On the other hand, our first lady Ho Ching landed at number 12 on the Singapore’s Most Admired Women list.

Methodology

The methodology of the study goes a little beyond just doling out random questions on the Internet.

YouGov gathered open-ended nominations from panellists across 42 countries and territories from January to March this year.

The question asks: “Thinking about people alive in the world today, which [man or woman] do you most admire?”

Combing through the submissions, YouGov identified 20 men and 20 women that received the most nominations and were nominated in at least four countries.

Throwing five to ten popular local figures into the mix, they compiled national admiration lists to be used in polling in the respective countries from May to September.

Respondents could make multiple selections to the question “who do you truly admire?”, and only one selection to the question “who do you MOST admire?” This is to gauge “the breadth (i.e. global reach) and the intensity of a person’s support.”

YouGov acknowledges the limitation of their investigation: as it took place exclusively online, representation could be restricted to the online population in countries where internet penetration is uneven. This applies to China, Hong Kong, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Overall, the countries and territories polled make up more than seven-tenths of the world’s population.