The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American adults shows that 43% say George Washington is the greatest founding father of our country, up 11 points from last year.

Thomas Jefferson comes in second with 24% who see him has the greatest found father, followed by Benjamin Franklin with 16%.

Just five percent (5%) see both John Adams and James Madison as the greatest founding fathers. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Washington has been at the top of this list since 2006.

Data released earlier shows that Americans continue to strongly believe in the nation’s founding ideals articulated in the Declaration of Independence. While most believe that governments derive their only just authority from the consent of the governed, only 23% believe the federal government today has such consent.

In fact, 45% believe that the gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them is now as big as the gap between the American colonies and England during the 18th Century.

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