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American Morning

Tiger Woods Considered Best Golfer By Majority of Americans

Aired June 13, 2001 - 10:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Golfer Tiger Woods is one of the great names in sports, and he's only 25. Now, as the U.S. Open gets under way this week, Tiger is stalking a fifth straight major title. Joining us now to talk about Tiger is Gallup Poll editor in chief Frank Newport.

Frank, I bet those numbers are high.

FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR IN CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: Oh, they're phenomenal. We think he ought to run for president, but he has to be, I believe, 35 under the Constitution, so he's got 10 years to think about that. I'll show you why I say that in a minute.

Look at this question we asked this past weekend: Who is greatest athlete active in any sport today, we didn't mention a particular sport, and this general population. Thirty-eight percent of Americans mentioned Tiger Woods spontaneously. He swamps anything else. Michael Jordan comes in second. He's really not active as a player, but people mention him anyhow, and then a couple players who are now in the NBA finals. But it's Tiger Woods and then the rest of the whole sports world, not just the golf world.

Look at the favorable ratings on Tiger Woods. Just for comparison, we put him up against the president, 62 percent favorable; the new Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle, only 34 percent favorable. A lot of people don't know who he is and look at Tiger, 84 percent favorable rating. That's just phenomenal. It's something we rarely see, no matter who we rate, using this type of system overall.

Nicklaus in his prime versus Tiger Woods today, that is the question we asked the public, and there is no question whether or not it's true or not. Sixty-nine percent say woods today is better than Jack Nicklaus ever was when he was in his prime.

All in all, we borrowed from "Newsweek" Kyra and Leon, to give you our bottom line. From the public's perspective, Tiger rules. That's where Americans stand. We'll see how he does under all this pressure there in Tulsa.

PHILLIPS: Well, Frank, I grew up watching Jack Nicklaus, he ain't so bad.

NEWPORT: No, you're right, and Nicklaus, of course, has won a lot more majors than Tiger did, and I know that's what Tiger Woods is heading for. So, we'll see. We'll come back in 10 years when Woods makes the decision on whether to run for president.

PHILLIPS: It's a date. All right, I'll call you. Frank Newport, thanks so much.

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