Press Releases
Billy Graham Tops the List Among High Profile Televangelists and Mega Church Leaders
Ted Haggard rated least sincere; Jeremiah Wright rated most controversial
Flemington, NJ, January 29, 2009 – A new national study conducted among 803 Americans from various religious backgrounds revealed that Billy Graham is the most well-known across all religions, while Bob Coy is the least well known.
The study was conducted by HCD Research during January 27-28 to obtain Americans’ perceptions of high profile televangelists and mega church leaders.
Respondents were asked to rate 32 televangelists and mega church leaders based on the following attributes: familiarity, likeability, believability, authenticity/sincerity, personal impact and level of controversy.
Below are the top and lowest rated picks for each attribute:
Attribute |
Highest Rated |
Lowest Rated |
|
Familiarity |
Billy Graham |
William Sheals |
|
Likeability |
Zachery Tims |
Jeremiah Wright |
|
Believability |
Zachery Tims |
Jeremiah Wright |
|
Authenticity/Sincerity |
Zachery Tims |
Ted Haggard |
|
Personal Impact |
Joel Olsteen |
Ted Haggard |
|
Level of Controversy |
Jeremiah Wright |
Robert A.Schuller |
Below is the list of rated televangelists and mega church leaders in order from most well-known, to least well-known:
|
|
Total (n=803) |
|
Billy Graham |
88% |
|
Pat Robertson |
80% |
|
Jimmy Swaggart |
73% |
|
Oral Roberts |
69% |
|
Joel Osteen |
67% |
|
Jeremiah Wright |
56% |
|
Rick Warren |
49% |
|
Benny Hinn |
48% |
|
T.D. Jakes |
40% |
|
Robert A. Schuller |
38% |
|
Ted Haggard |
36% |
|
Robert Tilton |
29% |
|
Creflo Dollar |
25% |
|
Rod Parsley |
23% |
|
Joseph Lowery |
23% |
|
Eddie Long |
13% |
|
Frederick Eikerenkoetter ("Rev Ike") |
13% |
|
Charles Blake |
11% |
|
H. Edwin Young |
10% |
|
Bill Hybels |
10% |
|
Andy Stanley |
8% |
|
William Sheals |
8% |
|
Chuck Smith |
8% |
|
Tommy J. Barnett |
8% |
|
Zachery Tims |
7% |
|
Craig Groeschel |
6% |
|
Billy James Hargis |
6% |
|
Bob Russell |
6% |
|
Kerry Shook |
5% |
|
Brad Powell |
5% |
|
Dave Stone |
5% |
|
Bob Coy |
4% |
The Media Curves web site provides the media and general public with a venue to view Americans’ perceptions of popular and controversial media events and advertisements.
Editors/Reporters: For more information on the study, or to speak with Glenn Kessler, president and CEO, HCD Research, please contact Vince McGourty, HCD Research, at (908) 483-9121 or (vince.mcgourty@hcdi.net).