Former President Barack Obama is no longer the most admired man in the United States, according to an annual poll.
Obama — who held the title for 12 years in the Gallup poll — now sits behind President Donald Trump as the most admired man.
Eighteen percent of the 1,018 respondents gave the title to Trump, while Obama was most admired by 15%.
The honor comes as Trump has a 42.7% approval rating and 53% disapproval rating, according to a FiveThirtyEight aggregate of national polls.
But 48% of Republicans named Trump as their most-admired man in the questionnaire, Gallup found, helping him vault past the former president.
“Should Trump continue to dominate Republicans’ consciousnesses — currently, Republicans rarely name any other public person than him — he will have a good chance of winning in future years, especially if Democrats continue to split their choices between Obama and Biden,” Gallup said.
President-elect Joe Biden, who made the top 10 list once previously, came in third in the voting with 6%.
Infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and Pope Francis rounded out this year’s top five.
Former first lady Michelle Obama retained her title as the most admired woman in the country for the third straight year, Gallup found. She was named on 10% of the ballots — 4% better than Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
“Harris’ prominent role in the forthcoming Biden administration should raise her national profile in the coming year, and possibly position her to overtake Michelle Obama as most admired woman,” Gallup said.
First lady Melania Trump, media mogul Oprah Winfrey and German Chancellor Angela Merkel rounded out the top five.
Gallup’s poll has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4 percentage points.
A YouGov poll earlier this year, surveying 45,000 people in 42 countries, found Barack and Michelle Obama as the most admired man and woman in the world.
MIAMI HERALD
