President Obama Named 'Most Admired Man' for 9th Straight Year, Beating President-Elect Trump

A new Gallup poll found that President Barack Obama is the most admired man in America for the ninth straight year, beating President-elect Donald Trump.

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President Barack Obama said earlier this week that he's "confident" he could've won a third term. And judging by this year's annual Gallup poll, he might be right. President Barack Obama is the most admired man in America for the ninth straight year.

According to the Gallup poll published Wednesday, Americans named President Barack Obama more often than any other living man when asked whom they admire most in 2016. Conducted between Dec. 7 and Dec. 11, the annual poll was open-ended and there was a huge variety in answers, but more Americans mentioned Obama in their answers than anyone else.

Obama won first place with 22 percent of Americans who mentioned him. President-elect Donald Trump got 15 percent, which put him in second. While Obama's margin of seven percentage points was his smallest yet, it was enough to earn him his ninth consecutive win in the annual poll.

After Obama and Trump, the next closest was Pope Francis with 4 percent, and Bernie Sanders with 2 percent. Beyond those four, nobody earned more than 1 percent of the vote. The top ten also included Rev. Billy Graham, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Dalai Lama, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, and Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

The annual poll has been conducted since 1946, and incumbent presidents are typically the winner—58 of the 70 times Gallup asked the question, the president won.

With that said, Obama first won the poll in 2008 as the president-elect, while President George W. Bush was still in office. Dwight Eisenhower, who won in 1952, is the only other president-elect to win. Obama's ninth victory puts him in second place overall, behind Eisenhower who finished first in the poll 12 different times.

Among women, Hillary Clinton won for the 15th straight year, though she's won 21 times overall since her first victory in 1993 when she was the First Lady. No other woman has won the poll as many times as her; Eleanor Roosevelt, who finished first 13 times, has the second-most victories among women.

This year, Clinton earned 12 percent of the vote, with First Lady Michelle Obama coming in second with 8 percent. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was third, followed by Oprah and Ellen.

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