Barack Obama is 2017's most-admired man in the United States

WASHINGTON: Former US president Barack Obama is the most admired man in the United States and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton the most admired woman, according to a poll published today.

Obama came out on top of the annual Gallup survey for the 10th year in a row while Clinton, who lost last year's presidential election to Donald Trump, was named the most admired woman for the 16th straight year.

Seventeen per cent of the Americans who polled said Obama was the man they admired most, down from 22 per cent last year. Trump was second with 14 percent followed by Pope Francis with three per cent.

Nine per cent of those polled said Clinton was their most admired woman followed by former US First Lady Michelle Obama with seven per cent and talk show host Oprah Winfrey with four per cent.

Gallup said the poll of 1,049 adults was conducted between December 4-11 and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.