WASHINGTON – Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump and former First Lady Michelle Obama are the most admired man and woman in the country by 2020, according to an annual Gallup poll.
After being tied last year with former President Barack Obama (2009-2017), Trump is in first place in 2020, ending his predecessor’s 12-year reign as the first on this list. Obama is further tied with former President Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961) as the most admired in U.S. history.
In response to the question “What is the man living around the world about whom you have read or heard something you most admire?”, 18% of respondents answered Trump; 15% Obama; 6% President-elect Joe Biden; and 3% White House chief epidemiologist Anthony Fauci.
They complete the list of the 10 most admired Pope Francis, tycoon Elon Musk, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, basketball player Lebron James and the Dalai Lama.
Of the 74 times Gallup has conducted this poll since 1946, the incumbent has topped the list 60 times.
The presidents who have not led this list while in power have been Harry Truman, between 1946-1947 and 1950-1952; Lyndon Johnson, in 1967 and 1968; Richard Nixon, 1973; Gerald Ford, in 1974 and 1975; Jimmy Carter, 1980; George W. Bush, 2008; and Trump, in 2017 and 2018.
“That’s what I do,” the former president joked after his feat in Michigan.
Gallup explained that when the incumbent is not the main election it is usually due to the fact that it is unpopular, which was the case with Trump in 2017 and 2018, when he got approval percentages of 36% and 40%, respectively, and finished second after Obama as the most admired man in the U.S.
Although his approval rating is currently similar, at 39%, Trump’s predominance among Republicans contrasts with the division among Democrats when it comes to choosing which figure they most admire, which has pushed to the first position.
Among women, Michelle Obama is leading the poll for the third year in a row with 10% support, followed by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris with 6%, and First Lady Melania Trump with 4%.
After them, the women most admired by Americans are TV presenter Oprah Winfrey; German Chancellor Angela Merkel; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; left-wing legislator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Queen Elizabeth of England; Conservative Supreme Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett; and climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Like incumbent presidents, respondents usually cite the first lady as the most admired woman.
Of the 71 times Gallup has asked about them since 1948, Americans have answered 18 times that she was the first lady and 57 times a former first lady.
This has been the case since 1997, with Hillary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton, as the most nominated, as well as Michelle Obama, from 2018 to 2020 and Laura Bush, in 2001.
Melania Trump has been in the top 10 for the past four years but has never led the list, as happened to her predecessors Bess Truman (1945-1953) and Lady Bird Johnson (1963-1969).
The survey was conducted by telephone between Dec. 1 and 17 on a random sample of 1,080 adults over the age of 18 in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
The margin of error of the survey is ± 4 with a confidence level of 95%.