President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama both landed in the top spot of the Most Admired Men of 2019 survey. It's the very first time for Trump's name to be included in the list while it's the 12th year for Obama.
Gallup's survey results showed that Trump tied with Obama as the Most Admired Man of the Year. The pollster, which has been running the surveys since the 1940s, also showed that the presidential wives landed in the first (Michelle Obama) and second place (Melania Trump), respectively.
Trump and Obama have different styles of leadership and personalities. For many, these two presidents are the opposites of each other. Yet, why did these two leaders top the current survey by Gallup and even tied in the first place?
According to Sandep Gopalan of The Hill, Trump and Obama may actually similar in more ways than one. For one thing, both presidents apparently have the ambition to "succeed against all odds."
Trump and Obama were also regarded as lost causes during their presidential campaigns. Yet, they managed to win the highest post of the land and moved into the White House.
What may set Trump and Obama apart is their perspective on things. Gopalan said that what might seem a crazy idea for one president could be the reality for the other president.
Meanwhile, Trump's rating in the Gallup poll climbed at an all-time high at the end of 2019 even with the impeachment proceedings. This proved the notion that the support of the public for President Trump grew stronger as the Democrats pushed their agenda against him.
Trump's defense team has been preparing a month after the House passed the articles of impeachment, to be ready for transmitting to the Senate. According to CNN, the president is confident that he will survive this trial unscathed.
The Senate has yet to schedule the impeachment trials, but there are speculations that it might begin after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Trump, however, is set to fly to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in the coming weeks.
Sources said that it's still unclear if the president will cancel his plans in favor of being present at the impeachment trials. Trump has been frustrated about the wait since he has been eager to prove he is innocent of the charges in the Senate hearing.
