cardinal vs high on the totem pole

cardinal

adj
  • Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal. 

  • Having a bright red color (from the color of a Catholic cardinal's cassock). 

  • Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west). 

  • Describing a "natural" number used to indicate quantity (e.g., zero, one, two, three), as opposed to an ordinal number indicating relative position. 

noun
  • One of the officials appointed by the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking only below the pope and the patriarchs, constituting the special college which elects the pope. (See Wikipedia article on Catholic cardinals.) 

  • Any of various related passerine birds of the family Cardinalidae (See Wikipedia article on cardinals) and other similar birds that were once considered to be related. 

  • A deep red color, somewhat less vivid than scarlet, the traditional colour of a Catholic cardinal's cassock. (same as cardinal red) 

  • A woman's short cloak with a hood, originally made of scarlet cloth. 

  • Any of a genus of songbirds of the finch family, Cardinalis. 

high on the totem pole

adj
  • Accorded relatively high importance. 

How often have the words cardinal and high on the totem pole occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )