Although President Donald Trump never faced former President Barack Obama in a head-to-head election, he nevertheless scored a recent win over his predecessor in the court of public opinion.
Gallup recently released the results of an annual survey that determined Trump to be the most admired man of 2020.
Breaking Obama’s 12-year streak
While the sitting U.S. president has received the title for 60 of the 74 years the poll has been conducted, Obama has held on to the position for the past dozen years.
Among those surveyed, 18% said they admired Trump the most this year. Among Republicans, that number ballooned to nearly half.
Despite leaving office in 2017, Obama continued to top the list of admired men throughout most of Trump’s first term in office. Following Trump’s reported loss to Democratic nominee Joe Biden in last month’s race, however, his popularity has apparently increased.
In fact, Trump received three times as many votes as Biden, leading some voters to question why the incumbent ostensibly lost his re-election bid.
The president has been a frequent fixture on Gallup’s top 10 list, earning the honor four times even before he entered politics.
Other men on the list
Biden, on the other hand, has only been in the top 10 twice, in 2018 and 2020.
For his part, Trump has declined to concede the election to Biden even after the Electoral College voted to award the former vice president 306 electoral votes. Following a series of court challenges by Trump and key allies, at least some GOP lawmakers have signaled a willingness to challenge the Electoral College results when they convene early next month to ratify the tally.
Political experts, however, insist the gambit is destined to fail.
Trump’s strong showing in the latest Gallup survey, however, could put him in a favorable position if he stages a comeback campaign in four years.
In addition to Obama, who received a nod from 15% of respondents, and Biden, who received another 6%, individuals from various walks of life received a substantially smaller share of the vote. Other notable figures included Dr. Anthony Fauci, Pope Francis, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Microsoft founder Bill Gates, NBA star LeBron James, and the Dalai Lama.
The post Trump beats out Obama, Biden to become Gallup's most admired man of 2020 first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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