He Shoots, He Scores! Americans Still See Michael Jordan as the Greatest Sports Star of All Time

All Things Sports

30 Dec 2015

The debate is as legendary as the athletes themselves: who is the greatest sports star of all time? According to Americans who follow at least one sport, Michael Jordan is still #1 – maintaining his status at the top of the list. Babe Ruth rises from 3^rd to 2^nd place and Muhammad Ali moves up the ranks as well, from 4^th to 3^rd. New to the list – and Sports Illustrated’s 2015 Sportsperson of the Year – is tennis star Serena Williams, who comes in 4^th. Rounding out the top five is quarterback Peyton Manning, who previously ranked 8^th.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll^® of 2,368 general population U.S. adults, along with representative oversamples of 511 Hispanic Americans (interviewed in English and Spanish) and 179 Asian Americans (interviewed in English), surveyed online between September 9 and 17, 2015. Full results of this study, including data tables, can be found here.

Quarterback Joe Montana holds steady in his spot at #6, while LeBron James makes the jump shot and moves up from 10^th in 2009 to 7^th. Meanwhile, landing in a sand trap, Tiger Woods sees a large drop from 2^nd in 2009 to 8^th. Tom Brady, another newbie on the list and another quarterback, places 9^th, while hockey all-star Wayne Gretzky ranks 10^th (previously 7^th).

With a few new additions to the list, a few had to fall off. Brett Favre (previously ranked 5^th), Ted Williams (previously tied for 8^th) and Hank Williams (previously tied for 10^th) all drop from the top 10.

Demographic divides
Despite differences among gender, region and ethnicity, one thing is clear – Michael Jordan reigns supreme. The same can almost be said among the generations as well, with the exception of Matures, who say Babe Ruth is the greatest sports star of all time. Looking to second and third place, some greater differences arise:

Men vote Babe Ruth into 2^nd place, while women lean towards Serena Williams; but both agree Muhammad Ali comes in 3^rd.
Millennials rank LeBron James 2^nd followed by Serena Williams, while Gen Xers and Baby Boomers both rank Muhammad Ali and Babe Ruth as 2^nd and 3^rd, respectively. Matures rank Michael Jordan 2^nd and Joe Montana 3^rd.
While Whites rank Babe Ruth 2^nd, no other ethnicities put the baseball great in their top three. Rather, Muhammad Ali is the popular number two choice among Blacks, Hispanics and Asians alike, with LeBron James tying for 2^nd among Blacks. Muhammad Ali ranks 3^rd for Whites, while LeBron is 3^rd for Hispanics. Among Asians, on the other hand, Serena Williams, Joe Montana, Tom Brady, and Wayne Gretzky all tie for 3^rd place.
Very few differences exist among the regions, with all saying Babe Ruth is 2^nd on their list while Muhammad Ali is 3^rd. However, the Midwest offers up Aaron Rogers as a 3^rd place tie.

Greatest baseball player
Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron rank 1^st and 2^nd when fans of the sport are asked to name the greatest baseball player of all time, while Mickey Mantle makes the number three spot. Rounding out the top 5 and all tied for 4^th place are Willie Mays (previously 3^rd), Ted Williams (previously 4^th), and Pete Rose (new to the list). One Yankee legend, Lou Gehrig (previously 5^th), falls from the top five.

Greatest football player
Football has a new #1, as Joe Montana jumps ahead two spots. Tom Brady joins the ranks in the #2 spot, as does Peyton Manning in spot number three. Walter Payton maintains his #4 spot while Jim Brown sees a drop from 2^nd to 5^th. With two new additions to the list, two greats had to leave and those are Brett Favre (previously ranked number one) and Jerry Rice (previously 5^th).

Greatest basketball player
As he’s number one on the overall list, it’s no surprise that Michael Jordan is considered #1 on the greatest basketball player list as well, the same spot he held in 2009. Wilt Chamberlain sees a two spot jump from 4^th to 2^nd, while LeBron James makes his first appearance on the list in spot number three. Bill Russell also sees a jump from 5^th place to 4^th. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar joins the list in the #5 slot. With two new arrivals, we see Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson (previously 2^nd) and Larry Bird (3^rd in 2009) take a backseat to the newcomers.

Greatest golfer
The greatest golfer list stays largely consistent from 2009, with Tiger Woods maintaining his position at the top. Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus rank 2^nd and 3^rd, reversing their 2009 positions. Phil Mickelson continues to hold strong in 4^th, while Ben Hogan jumps on to share this spot. Bobby Jones (previously 5^th) falls from the top five.

Greatest tennis player
Tennis sees a big upset this year, with Serena Williams – unranked in 2009 – snagging the #1 spot. Roger Federer drops down from 1^st to 2^nd, as does Pete Sampras from 2^nd to 3^rd. Arthur Ashe jumps up one spot to #4, while the also-formidable Venus Williams finds her own spot on the list in the #5 slot. With the Williams sisters making big moves, Jimmy Connors (previously 3^rd) and Andre Agassi (4^th in 2009) lose their footing on the top five list.

Greatest soccer player
New this year, The Harris Poll also asked Americans to choose the greatest soccer player of all time. Pele – touted as the most successful goal scorer in the world – tops the list, followed by Lionel Messi and David Beckham. Diego Maradona ranks 4^th while Mia Hamm and Cristiano Ronaldo round out the top in a 5^th-place tie.

Methodology
This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between September 9 and 17, 2015 among 2,368 adults (aged 18 and over). Additionally, oversamples were collected in English and Spanish among 511 Hispanic (representing Spanish-dominant, English-dominant and Bilingual profiles) respondents and in English among 179 Asian respondents. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, The Harris Poll avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Poll surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in our panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.