Obama, Dalai Lama world's most popular leaders: poll

US President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama are the world's two most popular leaders, according to a poll. The Tibetan spiritual leader was at second place at 75 per cent, followed by Hillary Clinton at 62 per cent.

US President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama are the world's two most popular leaders, according to a poll conducted in six countries and released today.

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Obama won 77 per cent backing, one percentage point higher than in November, in the poll conducted by Harris Interactive for France24 and Radio France-Internationale.

The Tibetan spiritual leader was at second place at 75 per cent, followed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at 62 per cent.

Pope Benedict XVI was the seventh most popular leader with 36 per cent support.

The survey was carried out on the Internet between March 31 and April 12 and covered 6,135 adults aged between 16 and 64 in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was at fourth position with 54 per cent support. She was followed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy who tied for fifth place with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at 37 per cent.

The most unpopular leaders according to the survey were Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi and Chinese President Hu Jintao.