It’s no secret that American Idol continues to strike high notes with its ratings. Most recently, three nights of Idol beat out the Oscars in the ratings. Fans are certainly enthralled with the competition, but how do they judge the panel of judges on the long-running talent show?

A recent Rasmussen Reports survey found that most fans have a favorable opinion of all three judges—even Simon Cowell. Even though Cowell earned the lowest rating, he’s still considered favorable by 74%. That’s up six points from our survey conducted this time last year. Currently, 19% rate the Brit unfavorably.

Eighties singer Paula Abdul maintains her favorability rating from last year holding relatively steady at 76%. Just 14% have an unfavorable opinion of the diva.

Meanwhile, Randy Jackson is the most liked by fans—scoring a favorability rating of 83%. That’s also six point gain from last year. Only 15% dislike the producer/DJ.

Overall, men and women favor Jackson more than the other two judges. Not surprisingly, Cowell is least liked by both sexes.

Fans are split on the quality of the long-running reality show. As the show continues into its seventh season, only 17% feel the show has gotten better as the years have gone by, while 20% think the show has gotten worse. Twenty-one percent (21%) say the show has stayed about the same.

Idol fans will have to wait many more weeks to declare this year’s winner. Currently, there are sixteen contestants remaining. Four will be kicked off the show this week. Jordin Sparks was the first choice among fans to win last year’s competition.

For this survey, American Idol fans are defined as those who watch the show every week or almost every week. The national telephone survey of 240 fans has a margin of sampling error of +/- 6 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

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