Personally I like Carol because she's a strong character without being physically strong. Badass characters are fine and all, but it takes all kinds to make up a group-- Carol adds a vital element to the group the same way Hershel does and Dale did. She's strong but she doesn't have to become a cookie-cutter gun-blazing definition of what we might think of as 'strong' in the zombie apocalypse, she defines her own strength. And it's very gratifying to see someone come into her own identity after years of being held under an abusive thumb.