Bush is most revered, and reviled, of 2006

WASHINGTON -- Bad guy of 2006: President Bush. Good guy of 2006: President Bush.

When people were asked in an AP-AOL News poll to name the villains and heroes of the year, Bush topped both lists, in a sign of these polarized times.

HEROES AND VILLAINS: Bush won the villain sweepstakes by a landslide, with one in four respondents putting him at the top of that bad-guy list. When people were asked to name the candidate for villain that first came to mind, Bush far outdistanced even Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader in hiding, and former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who is scheduled for execution.

The president was picked as hero of the year by a much smaller margin. In the poll, 13 percent named him as their favorite, while 6 percent cited the troops in Iraq.

Bush was the choice of 43 percent of Democrats for villain, and 27 percent of Republicans for hero.

CELEBRITY ROLE MODELS: Among entertainment celebrities, Oprah Winfrey edged out actor-activist Michael J. Fox as the best celebrity role model, and Britney Spears outdistanced Paris Hilton as the worst.

When asked to choose from a list of names, 29 percent bestowed the honor of worst celebrity on panty-eschewing pop star Spears. Second-worst billing went to Spears' fellow party girl Hilton, with 18 percent.

In the best celebrity role model category, 29 percent of adults chose talk-show host Winfrey. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease, finished second with 23 percent.

ABOUT THE POLL: The telephone poll of 1,004 adults was conducted Dec. 19-21 by Ipsos, an international polling firm. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.