Barack Obama is the most admired man in the world, found a poll released this week. His presidential successor is not so highly ranked.
As The Huffington Post reported, a survey from the polling firm YouGov asked respondents for the man and woman they admired most in the world. The former first couple topped the list, with President Obama earning the title of most admired man and his wife, Michelle Obama, ranking as the top woman.
The list was filled with other political leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, who finished third. Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates, who had consistently held the top spot on previous rankings, fell to second place this year.
As the report noted, Donald Trump ranked No. 15, falling behind a number of others, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk. First Lady Melania Trump made the rankings for women as well, finishing 19th behind Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, and Angelina Jolie, who had ranked first on the list before being overtaken by Michelle Obama this year.
The survey found that there was just one country where Trump was seen as more admired than Obama — Russia. The report took note of the allegations that the Russian government had led a campaign to help him win the 2016 election, though it was not clear if this had a connection.
“In that nation, which U.S. intelligence officials have consistently said interfered in America’s 2016 election and is doing so again, Trump was the 11th most popular man and Obama the 15th,” the report noted.
Trump has fallen behind his Russian counterpart in other recent surveys. As The Inquisitr reported, a January poll found that Putin was more trusted than Trump when it comes to handling international affairs. This survey was taken during a time of high tensions between the United States and Iran, with many critics around the globe pointing the finger at Trump for creating a tense situation.
While his standing around the globe may not be so high, recent polls show that Trump may be improving where it matters the most. As The Inquisitr reported, Trump has now seen 10 straight weeks of approval ratings higher than 50 percent in the Rasmussen Reports’ Friday Daily Presidential Tracking Poll, the longest such streak of his presidency. As the Washington Examiner noted, Rasmussen Reports was one of the few pollsters to correctly predict his win in the 2016 presidential election and uses a model that leans more heavily on likely voters and Republican voters.