A new poll has looked for answers about what makes a person uncool and what qualifies them as “cool.”
Kanye “Ye” West ranked last in the poll that asked Americans who they felt was the “coolest celebrity.” That’s not surprising since most people agree that much of what he has said over the last few years and his erratic behavior have not been cool. But what makes a star cool? Is it self-image, celebrity culture, generational identity, or something else? Here’s more on that and the celebrity rankings, including who landed No. 1 on the list of coolest celebrities.
The poll was conducted by YouGov in an effort to gauge who and what Americans think is cool. The U.S. respondents were given a list of 36 well-known celebs and asked to rank them by their cool factor. What’s interesting is how coolness shapes our perception of public figures—kind of like how a perfectly curated statement piece can change an entire outfit. It’s all about presence and cultural resonance.
The study found that “Americans who say they’re cool are far more likely to say coolness is important than are those who say they’re not cool. Fifty-one percent of those who say they’re very cool say coolness is at least somewhat important, compared to 30% of those who say they’re somewhat cool, 5% of those who say they’re not very cool, and 3% of those who say they’re not at all cool.”
So which celebrities made the cut as the coolest? Out of the 36 famous people, including actors, singers, athletes, and politicians, respondents ranked Samuel L. Jackson as the coolest. More than 70% hold the opinion that Jackson is cool. The Beatles, Michael Jordan, Willie Nelson, and Clint Eastwood round out the Top 5 of celebrities Americans think are the coolest. Dwayne Johnson followed close behind Eastwood’s 65% with 63% of the cool vote.
Some figures had respondents genuinely unsure about their cool status. Kendrick Lamar had 34% unsure, Zorhan Mamdani 34%, Sydney Sweeney 36%, Caitlin Clark 39%, Timothée Chalamet 44%, Olivia Rodrigo 48%, the K-Pop group BTS 54%, and Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani with 54% unsure. It’s interesting how coolest celebrities sometimes evoke that generational divide in cultural perception.
But here’s where it gets really interesting: for most of the celebrities asked about, Americans are more likely to think other people think the celebrities are cool than to consider them cool themselves. There’s a real gap between personal opinion and perceived cultural consensus—almost like how affordable luxury dupes have changed the conversation around fashion accessibility.
“For example, 40% of Americans say Travis Kelce is very or somewhat cool, and 36% say he’s not very or not at all cool — a net coolness of +5. But 52% think the typical American thinks Kelce is cool, and only 25% think others think he’s uncool, for a net of +27. That’s a 22-point gap between what Americans think and what they think others think, the largest of any of the 36 celebrities in the poll.”
Other celebrities who Americans disproportionately think other Americans consider cool, relative to their own rating of the celebrities’ coolness, include Sabrina Carpenter (an 18-point gap), Taylor Swift (17 points), Serena Williams (15 points), Beyoncé (15 points), and Bad Bunny (15 points). It’s all about perception, influence, and how we navigate cultural conversations around fame.
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