Outgoing president Donald Trump ended his predecessor Barack Obama’s 12-year run as the most admired man in Gallup’s annual poll Tuesday.
For the first time since 2008, Obama slid to second place, securing 15% of the vote compared to Trump’s 18%.
Former first lady Michelle Obama was the most admired woman for the third year in a row with a 10% response rate while Vice President-elect Kamala Harris came in second place with 6%. Current first lady Melania Trump was behind her with 4%.
Gallup explained Trump’s rise in its poll like this: “When the sitting president is not the top choice, it is usually because he is unpopular politically … Even though Trump is similarly unpopular now — 39% approve of his performance — his dominant performance among Republicans, contrasted with Democrats splitting their choices among multiple public figures, pushes him to the top of the 2020 most admired man list.”
President-elect Joe Biden was named by 6% of respondents. Notably, Dr. Anthony Fauci beat out the Pope by one percentage point in his debut on the list, earning 3% to the pontiff’s 2%.
The results came from telephone interviews conducted from Dec. 1 to Dec. 17. Just over 1,000 American adults from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. weighed in on the open-ended questions of which man and woman they admire most.