President Trump is the most admired man in the United States for 2020, according to a new Gallup survey.
Trump finished No. 1 in the survey released Dec. 29, ending the 12-year run of President Obama, who had finished No. 1 as the most admired man every year since 2008.
Although Trump and Obama tied for No 1 in the survey in 2019 with 18 percent each, this year Trump ended the year at No. 1 by himself.
It was Trump’s first time to lead the survey alone. Trailing Trump (18 percent) were Obama (15 percent), Joe Biden (6 percent), Anthony Fauci (3 percent), Pope Francis (2 percent), Elon Musk (1 percent), Bernie Sanders (1 percent), Bill Gates (1 percent), LeBron James (1 percent) and the Dalai Lama (1 percent).
Trump led the survey thanks to 48 percent of Republicans naming him, and Democrats splitting their votes between Obama (32 percent of Democrats) and Biden (13 percent of Democrats). Fauci was listed by 5 percent of Democrats but only 1 percent of Republicans, Gallup said.
Obama’s 12-year run tied Dwight Eisenhower for the most ever.
Meanwhile, Michelle Obama (10 percent) is the most admired woman for 2020, followed by Kamala Harris (6 percent), Melania Trump (4 percent), Oprah Winfrey (3 percent), Angela Merkel (2 percent), Hillary Clinton (2 percent), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (2 percent), Queen Elizabeth (2 percent), Amy Coney Barrett (1 percent) and Greta Thunberg (1 percent). Dolly Parton – who made the news for helping fund a COVID-19 vaccine – finished No. 11.
Obama has finished in the Top 10 in the survey 15 times, Trump 10.
“The incumbent president is usually top of mind when Gallup asks Americans to name, without prompting, which man living anywhere in the world they admire most,” a Gallup analysis said.
Billy Graham holds the record for most top 10 finishes ever with 61.
Gallup asked Americans, “What man that you have heard or read about, living today in any part of the world, do you admire most?”
The survey was conducted Dec. 1-17.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Al Drago/Stringer
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
