Trump Ends Obama’s 12-Year Record as “Most-Admired Man” in America

Do any of them even deserve this title?

Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump may not have won a second term in office this year, but he has managed to unseat former President Barack Obama’s 12-year streak as the most admired man in America, according to the results of a new Gallup survey released on Tuesday.

The annual survey asked respondents which man or woman in the world they admired the most, and the president managed to narrowly edge out his predecessor with 18 percent naming Trump, compared to 15 percent who named Obama.

Runners up included former first lady Michelle Obama at 10 percent, with President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris both being named by 6 percent of respondents. First lady Melania Trump came in third among most-admired women with 4 percent.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci and Oprah Winfrey both received 3 percent, while 2 percent chose Pope Francis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Queen Elizabeth II, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and former first lady and Sen. Hillary Clinton.

The top 10 list of most-admired men was rounded out by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Lakers superstar LeBron James, and the Dalai Lama finishing with 1 percent each. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and climate change activist Greta Thunberg also finished with 1 percent.

The sitting U.S. president has been named the most-admired man by Gallup in 60 out of 74 years, with Obama coming out on top in all eight years of his presidency while George W. Bush topped the list in every year of his administration with the exception of 2008. Donald Trump, however, finished second to Obama in 2017 and 2018.

Republicans overwhelmingly fueled Trump’s ascension in the list, with GOP stalwarts naming Trump as their most admired by 48 percent. The 2020 rankings mark the 10th time that Trump has ranked among the top 10. Prior to entering politics, Trump made the list in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 2011.

No other public figure received more than 2 percent of Republicans’ votes.

Democrats backed Obama by 32 percent, a decline from the 41 percent last year. Biden only made his second appearance in the top 10 after he made the list in 2018.

The record for most appearances in the top 10 belongs to the late evangelical Christian preacher Rev. Billy Graham, who has been in the list 61 times prior to his 2018 death. Former President Carter, who has appeared in the list 29 times, is the most-represented living man. Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth II has appeared in the women’s list 52 times while former British Prime Minister received 34 top 10 finishes, with Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Clinton appearing 33 and 29 times, respectively.  

Twenty-one percent of those polled offered no response, while 11 percent named a personal friend or relative as the person whom they most admired.

From Dec. 1 to 17, pollsters surveyed 1,018 adults. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.