Trump dethrones Barack Obama in Gallup "most admired" poll

An interesting pairing:

Americans are most likely to name President Donald Trump and Michelle Obama as most admired man and woman in 2020. Trump tied former President Barack Obama for the honor last year but edged out his predecessor this year. Trump’s first-place finish ends a 12-year run as most admired man for Obama, tied with Dwight Eisenhower for the most ever.

Meanwhile, Michelle Obama ranks as most admired woman for the third year in a row. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is second.

I find it mind-boggling that politicians always seem to top these “most-admired” lists, although looking at the actual figures it seems that there’s really not all that much agreement because even the top figures get less than 20% of the vote. It’s a question of name-recognition for the most part; the question is open-ended, and I think a lot of people just choose the first name that pops into their head.

But Kamala Harris? How many answering that she’s their most-admired woman could name a single thing she’s done other to be chosen by the august and illustrious Joe Biden to be his VP?

And speaking of the latter – Biden was named by 6% of respondents. Wow.

“I am convinced this election was decided and planned starting 4 years ago. It was scripted.” – JHCorcoran

You may be right about that.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/12/we_are_facing_an_unprecedented_corporate_tyranny_in_america.html

By Andrea Widburg
You must pay attention when voices from both left and right come together to express a common concern. In this case, those voices are Glenn Greenwald and Tucker Carlson. Both share dismay at the unprecedented power corporate America has acquired. They are right to be worried.

…
Today, corporations have complete control over our lives. They know everything we buy, everything we earn, everything we think, and everyone with whom we communicate — and they have the on/off switch for all these things.
…
The tech tyrants and the corporate media controlled the 2020 presidential news cycle. They excoriated Trump, who fought for America, and lionized Biden, a stupid man with 47 years of failures behind him. After their four years pretending Trump was allied with Russia, they dedicated 2020 to stifling facts proving that China owns Biden. Their billionaires funded candidates and funded systems that supported their chosen candidates.
…
Glenn Greenwald, who values freedom and foolishly thought leftism was that path to freedom, understands this, which is why he wrote that “The Threat of Authoritarianism in the U.S. Is Very Real, and Has Nothing to Do with Trump.” Instead, the real threat comes from “a few corporate monopolies.”

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-threat-of-authoritarianism-in

Whether the U.S. was a democracy in any meaningful sense prior to Trump had been the subject of substantial scholarly debate. A much-discussed 2014 study concluded that economic power has become so concentrated in the hands of such a small number of U.S. corporate giants and mega-billionaires, and that this concentration in economic power has ushered in virtually unchallengeable political power in their hands and virtually none in anyone else’s, that the U.S. more resembles oligarchy than anything else.
…
These COVID “winners” are not the Randian victors in free market capitalism. Quite the contrary, they are the recipients of enormous amounts of largesse from the U.S. Government, which they control through armies of lobbyists and donations and which therefore constantly intervenes in the market for their benefit. This is not free market capitalism rewarding innovative titans, but rather crony capitalism that is abusing the power of the state to crush small competitors, lavish corporate giants with ever more wealth and power, and turn millions of Americans into vassals whose best case scenario is working multiple jobs at low hourly wages with no benefits, few rights, and even fewer options.
…
Stay-at-home orders, lockdowns and social isolation have meant that we rely on Silicon Valley companies to conduct basic life functions more than ever before.
…
That Facebook, Google and Twitter are exerting more and more control over our political expression is hardly contestable. What is most remarkable, and alarming, is that they are not so much grabbing these powers as having them foisted on them, by a public — composed primarily of corporate media outlets and U.S. establishment liberals — who believe that the primary problem of social media is not excessive censorship but insufficient censorship.
…
These tech companies are more powerful than ever, not only because of their newly amassed wealth at a time when the population is suffering, but also because they overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party candidate about to assume the presidency. Predictably, they are being rewarded with numerous key positions in his transition team and the same will ultimately be true of the new administration.

The Biden/Harris administration clearly intends to do a great deal for Silicon Valley, and Silicon Valley is well-positioned to do a great deal for them in return, starting with their immense power over the flow of information and debate.
…
The dominant strain of U.S. neoliberalism — the ruling coalition that has now consolidated power again — is authoritarianism. They view those who oppose them and reject their pieties not as adversaries to be engaged but as enemies, domestic terrorists, bigots, extremists and violence-inciters to be fired, censored, and silenced. And they have on their side — beyond the bulk of the corporate media, and the intelligence community, and Wall Street — an unprecedentedly powerful consortium of tech monopolies willing and able to exert greater control over a population that has rarely, if ever, been so divided, drained, deprived and anemic.

All of these authoritarian powers will, ironically, be invoked and justified in the name of stopping authoritarianism — not from those who wield power but from the movement that was just removed from power. Those who spent four years shrieking to great profit about the dangers of lurking “fascism” will — without realizing the irony — now use this merger of state and corporate power to consolidate their own authority, control the contours of permissible debate, and silence those who challenge them even further. Those most vocally screaming about growing authoritarianism in the U.S. over the last four years were very right in their core warning, but very wrong about the real source of that danger.

Comments

Trump dethrones Barack Obama in Gallup “most admired” poll — 14 Comments

j e on December 30, 2020 at 3:57 pm said:

Several days ago, Powerline published the now-infamous photo of the Obamas paddling in a canoe under the heading “Blue Hawaii”. The comments on the post concerning the photo, which reveals Michelle to be more muscular and more masculine than her husband, were, in many cases, highly amusing.
Ackler on December 30, 2020 at 4:40 pm said:

These “most admired” polls are vacuous fluff, largely based on name recognition, without any real consensus (as Neo pointed out). That said, when was the last time a sitting president or president-elect scored only 6%? Has it ever happened? I doubt it.

Biden is a nonentity, almost completely irrelevant, and even Democrats know it. I’m starting to think Harris is largely irrelevant too, though certainly more relevant than Biden. In all but name, we are looking at a third Obama term; Obama and the Obami will be calling the shots. And that’s what most Democrats want, and the rest of us fear.
Yawrate on December 30, 2020 at 5:15 pm said:

Really. I don’t admire either of them. Perhaps when asked, people just give the name of someone in the news that doesn’t rankle them.

If you insist on names from me, you’ll get Michael Flynn or the McCloskey couple (up on gun charges in St. Louis for defending their home from BLM).

Another name might be Tucker Carlson for saying what he really thinks despite the left’s hateful attacks on him and his family.

And let’s not forget Mark Steyn for standing up for free speech with a sense of humor and a sense of history.

And how about Heather Mac Donald? I fear for her life given the way she bravely tells the truth.
jack on December 30, 2020 at 6:24 pm said:

Though Gallup has been fairly reputable in the past given the track record of polls lately I don’t give much credence to this one either.

I am surprised Trump is ahead of Obama. Not surprised Trump is overwhelming ahead of Biden!
deadrody on December 31, 2020 at 12:34 am said:

OOH, OOH, me, me, me – I can name something about Kamala Harris…

Slept her way to the top. Fact. Definitely something the smart set feminists should be admiring, for sure.
deadrody on December 31, 2020 at 12:36 am said:

@ackler

“…when was the last time a sitting president or president-elect scored only 6%? Has it ever happened? I doubt it. Biden is a nonentity, almost completely irrelevant, and even Democrats know it.”

Which is why he got more votes than any presidential candidate in history… ?

Seems suspicious
JHCorcoran on December 31, 2020 at 12:42 am said:

Obama has lost his mojo. There is a lot of ‘skank’ in the Bidens, Kamalas, and Obamas these days. And we already know about the Clintons. With all the censored news, the facts still get revealed. The facts are ugly and unbelievable. These are obvious, slimy characters from a Dickens novel.

I cannot count how many people in their 80s and 90s have said they never thought they would see American be in the position it is in today.
Richard Aubrey on December 31, 2020 at 1:46 am said:

So, JH. How many of your associates voted for it?
GRA on December 31, 2020 at 10:16 am said:

Seems like if you’re the Obamas, or a leftie Dem, you don’t have to do much to be admired.

>6% – Biden

For POTUS, a vote for Biden was a vote against Trump. People never actually voted “for” Biden. Old Joe got in because lefties and drones were desperate, opting for their third string QB.
OBloodyHell on December 31, 2020 at 11:21 am said:

The REAL question is, how did someone who just made the top of this list get “thoroughly trounced” in the election?

By a guy who did very poorly?

Yet another piece of evidence of the blatant absurdity of this election.
Art+Deco on December 31, 2020 at 11:32 am said:

Really. I don’t admire either of them.

Trump is vulgar, but has real accomplishments. Obama does not (other than getting elected, which I’d attribute more to David Plouffe).
JHCorcoran on December 31, 2020 at 9:38 pm said:

ArtDeco: You are 100% correct.

Richard Aubrey: Too many of my associates. It baffles and sickens me. I talk to New Zealander’s who understand America’s government better then our citizens. It is not to say that the clueless ‘Kiwi’ doesn’t exist, but they do not vote in US elections and they are not required to understand our system of government.
I am convinced this election was decided and planned starting 4 years ago. It was scripted.
AesopFan on January 1, 2021 at 2:26 am said:

“I am convinced this election was decided and planned starting 4 years ago. It was scripted.” – JHCorcoran

You may be right about that.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/12/we_are_facing_an_unprecedented_corporate_tyranny_in_america.html

By Andrea Widburg
You must pay attention when voices from both left and right come together to express a common concern. In this case, those voices are Glenn Greenwald and Tucker Carlson. Both share dismay at the unprecedented power corporate America has acquired. They are right to be worried.

…
Today, corporations have complete control over our lives. They know everything we buy, everything we earn, everything we think, and everyone with whom we communicate — and they have the on/off switch for all these things.
…
The tech tyrants and the corporate media controlled the 2020 presidential news cycle. They excoriated Trump, who fought for America, and lionized Biden, a stupid man with 47 years of failures behind him. After their four years pretending Trump was allied with Russia, they dedicated 2020 to stifling facts proving that China owns Biden. Their billionaires funded candidates and funded systems that supported their chosen candidates.
…
Glenn Greenwald, who values freedom and foolishly thought leftism was that path to freedom, understands this, which is why he wrote that “The Threat of Authoritarianism in the U.S. Is Very Real, and Has Nothing to Do with Trump.” Instead, the real threat comes from “a few corporate monopolies.”

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-threat-of-authoritarianism-in

Whether the U.S. was a democracy in any meaningful sense prior to Trump had been the subject of substantial scholarly debate. A much-discussed 2014 study concluded that economic power has become so concentrated in the hands of such a small number of U.S. corporate giants and mega-billionaires, and that this concentration in economic power has ushered in virtually unchallengeable political power in their hands and virtually none in anyone else’s, that the U.S. more resembles oligarchy than anything else.
…
These COVID “winners” are not the Randian victors in free market capitalism. Quite the contrary, they are the recipients of enormous amounts of largesse from the U.S. Government, which they control through armies of lobbyists and donations and which therefore constantly intervenes in the market for their benefit. This is not free market capitalism rewarding innovative titans, but rather crony capitalism that is abusing the power of the state to crush small competitors, lavish corporate giants with ever more wealth and power, and turn millions of Americans into vassals whose best case scenario is working multiple jobs at low hourly wages with no benefits, few rights, and even fewer options.
…
Stay-at-home orders, lockdowns and social isolation have meant that we rely on Silicon Valley companies to conduct basic life functions more than ever before.
…
That Facebook, Google and Twitter are exerting more and more control over our political expression is hardly contestable. What is most remarkable, and alarming, is that they are not so much grabbing these powers as having them foisted on them, by a public — composed primarily of corporate media outlets and U.S. establishment liberals — who believe that the primary problem of social media is not excessive censorship but insufficient censorship.
…
These tech companies are more powerful than ever, not only because of their newly amassed wealth at a time when the population is suffering, but also because they overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party candidate about to assume the presidency. Predictably, they are being rewarded with numerous key positions in his transition team and the same will ultimately be true of the new administration.

The Biden/Harris administration clearly intends to do a great deal for Silicon Valley, and Silicon Valley is well-positioned to do a great deal for them in return, starting with their immense power over the flow of information and debate.
…
The dominant strain of U.S. neoliberalism — the ruling coalition that has now consolidated power again — is authoritarianism. They view those who oppose them and reject their pieties not as adversaries to be engaged but as enemies, domestic terrorists, bigots, extremists and violence-inciters to be fired, censored, and silenced. And they have on their side — beyond the bulk of the corporate media, and the intelligence community, and Wall Street — an unprecedentedly powerful consortium of tech monopolies willing and able to exert greater control over a population that has rarely, if ever, been so divided, drained, deprived and anemic.

All of these authoritarian powers will, ironically, be invoked and justified in the name of stopping authoritarianism — not from those who wield power but from the movement that was just removed from power. Those who spent four years shrieking to great profit about the dangers of lurking “fascism” will — without realizing the irony — now use this merger of state and corporate power to consolidate their own authority, control the contours of permissible debate, and silence those who challenge them even further. Those most vocally screaming about growing authoritarianism in the U.S. over the last four years were very right in their core warning, but very wrong about the real source of that danger.
JHCorcoran on January 1, 2021 at 6:28 pm said:

Thank you Aesopfan!

Always been a fan of Greenwald.

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The New Neo

A blog about political change, among other things

Trump dethrones Barack Obama in Gallup “most admired” poll

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Trump dethrones Barack Obama in Gallup “most admired” poll — 14 Comments

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