(Week of 4/13/2013) Lady Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of Great Britain, and a friend of President Ronald Reagan, is thought of favorably by most Americans. And in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll, conducted after her death, finds that popularity extending across all demographic groups.
53% of the American public views Thatcher positively, and just one in five holds a negative view. Republicans, perhaps because of her friendship with President Reagan, the most popular of recent GOP Presidents, are overwhelmingly favorable. 72% of Republicans are favorable, only 6% are not. But even Democrats have a favorable rating of Mrs. Thatcher, 43% to 25%. Men and women hold similar views of the former Prime Minister. Four in ten of those under the age of 30 have no opinion about her; 83% of those 65 and older are positive.
In this poll, Lady Thatcher is even more popular than another woman politician, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who routinely scores better than her male counterparts in national opinion polls. Similar percentages view both women favorably, but a third of the U.S. public sees her unfavorably, 13 points more than hold negative views of Thatcher.
Both women are held in higher estimation than the male political figures asked about his this poll, including the President and Vice President, Congressional leaders, and the current Secretary of State, John Kerry.
Economist/YouGov poll archives can be found here
Photo source: Press Association
