Personalities in the News
Tiger Woods just missed his chance to win the U.S. Open last weekend (and thus is now out of the running for the Grand Slam this year), coming in second behind New Zealander Michael Campbell. Still, Woods remains one of the most popular personalities (of any kind, not just sports figures) in the country. Gallup's weekend poll shows Woods is viewed favorably by 85% of Americans, and unfavorably by only 8%.
Movie star Tom Cruise doesn't do quite as well in the court of public opinion. Cruise -- who has been in the news during recent weeks for several reasons, most of them related to his relationship with actress Katie Holmes -- is viewed favorably by 58% of Americans, unfavorably by 31%. Gallup does not have a historical trend on perceptions of Cruise, so I can't say if his recent antics -- the most recent of which was a heated argument with a fake London reporter who squirted water in his face -- have caused his appeal to diminish or increase in the eyes of the average American.
Cruise, however, comes off very well compared with Paris Hilton, the wealthy heiress and star of "The Simple Life," who so frequently appears on television and in the tabloids these days. Sixty-three percent of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Hilton, while only 15% have a favorable opinion. I'm amazed by the large proportion of Americans (78%) who know enough about Hilton to have an opinion of her either way. Hilton is better known than many veteran politicians and other political figures measured in the Gallup Poll.