A recent poll was conducted by YouGov for the FindMyPast genealogy website. People were asked to indicate who they thought were the world’s best leaders with Irish ancestry. The top of the list included some former United States Presidents, and the current President of the United States.
FindMyPast is a popular genealogy website that is based in Dublin, Ireland. They recently had a poll that was conducted for them by YouGov. The YouGov company conducts global market research that provides insights for brands from around the world. They offer companies a way to understand their consumers and the wider world.
The poll included 4,000 people, who were either from the United States or who were from the United Kingdom. Each person was given a list of 10 political leaders from around the world. The leaders had one important thing in common – each had Irish ancestry.
They were also selected because they each had won prominence in countries outside of Ireland. Respondents to the poll were asked to indicate who they considered to be one of the greatest political leaders with Irish ancestry.
Former United States President John F. Kennedy was at the top of the list. 12% of respondents from the US, and 25% of respondents from the UK, selected him. Kennedy’s Irish ancestry can be traced to the great wave of Irish immigrants who came to the United States that started in the mid-nineteenth century.
Former United States President Ronald Reagan came in second. He got votes from 35% of the Americans who took the poll and from 8% of the Britons who took the poll. Like Kennedy, Reagan’s ancestry can be traced to the Irish immigrants who went to the United States starting in the mid-nineteenth century.
In third place was the current President of the United States, Barack Obama. President Obama can trace his Irish ancestry to an ancestor who was named Falmouth Kearney, who was originally from Moneygall in Co. Offaly. Kearney came to the United States sometime around 1850. He was President Obama’s great-great-great grandfather, on his mother’s side of the family. There have been at least 13 Presidents of the United States who have had Irish ancestry.
Che Guevara was fourth on the list. He was born in Argentina, and helped lead the revolution in Cuba. His Irish ancestry can be traced to an ancestor who came from Galway, Ireland. That ancestor came to the United States sometime during the 1740’s.
Image by U.S. Embassy New Delhi on Flickr