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For the past 32 years Siena College has asked selected Americans how they feel about their First Ladies, and each time Eleanor Roosevelt has come out on top. The latest poll, which questioned 242 historians, political scientists and published scholars, and released on Saturday, shows Abigail Adams in her traditional spot in second place, and Jacquie Kennedy retaining third place compared with the last poll which was held in 2008.
Fourth place went to Dolly Madison and Michelle Obama took position five in her first appearance on the list. Hillary Clinton fell from fourth place in 2008 down to sixth. During the years Clinton spent as First Lady the Siena poll, taken in 1993, placed her in second place.
The scholars put Clinton in the top spot, however, as the First Lady who they could see most suited to being President. Sixty-nine percent thought Clinton could take the nation’s highest office, while only 39 percent saw Roosevelt as such. Obama was rated highest as far as which First Lady ran her family life best, with 43 percent thinking so. Kennedy came in second place as a family woman with 22 percent and Edith Roosevelt third with 17 percent.
The poll was held between October 10 and November 25 in 2013. Online interviews were conducted and questionnaires were sent through the mail. The poll was conducted by the Siena College together with C-SPAN, and released last Saturday in conjunction with C-SPAN’s “First Lady” TV series, whose last episode will be shown on Monday.