It is said that politics makes strange bedfellows, and an annual Gallup poll appears to confirm that thinking. Despite their differences, former U.S. President Barack Obama and current President Donald Trump tied in the survey that asked Americans to name the man they most admire.
Trump and Obama each garnered 18 percent of the vote, and while several other men made the list -- Pope Francis, Bill Gates, the Dalai Lama, and Warren Buffett, for example -- no other man gained more than 2 percent. On close inspection, the division between Trump and Obama becomes clear: 41 percent of the respondents who chose Obama identified themselves as Democrats, and 45 percent who named Trump said they were Republicans. Interestingly, 25 percent of the respondents did not name anyone.
As for women, former First Lady Michelle Obama led the vote-getters with 10 percent of the total; she was followed by current First Lady Melanie Trump, at 5 percent. Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, and climate change activist Greta Thunberg each garnered 3 percent of the vote.
Presidential popularity:
- Harry Truman recorded the biggest drop in presidential popularity in history, going from an 87 percent approval rating in 1945 to 22 percent in 1951.
- Although George W. Bush earned a 90 percent approval rating shortly after 9/11, John F. Kennedy recorded the highest average rating for an entire term, at 70 percent.
- Political parties tend to lose congressional seats in direct proportion to the popularity of the president; the lower a president's popularity rating, the most seats his party will probably lose in elections.