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Sanders Is Crushing Trump In 'TIME's Reader' Poll

by Joseph D. Lyons

Donald Trump may have tried to self-appoint himself TIME's Person of the Year, but as for the reader's poll, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders continues to hold the lead. Despite polling behind Hillary Clinton in recent national polls by about 20 points, TIME voters can't get enough. As of Tuesday, he had nearly 13 percent of the votes, compared with runner-up (and Nobel Peace Prize winner) Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head trying to attend to school and now advocates for female education. As of Tuesday, she was polling at nearly five percent. There are 10 days left to vote.

Sanders supporters are a diehard bunch, and no doubt his small army of Facebook supporters (they outnumber Clinton's, almost 2.0 million to her 1.8) have played a part in an attempt to get others to "Feel The Bern." Sanders started the campaign for president in near obscurity, but he has since gained attention, fairly or not, as a more progressive alternative to Hillary Clinton, in his stance against money in politics and growing income inequality.

He embraced this, and has criticized Clinton in Iowa on some of her more pro-business policies, namely her former support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and unwillingness to reinstate the Glass-Steagall act separating retail banking from investment banking.

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Trump inserted himself on Monday into the TIME race. At a campaign stop in Birmingham, Alabama, Saturday he challenged the magazine to name him Person of the Year. A reporter from the magazine was at the rally. "You know I was on the cover recently. Now they're here again, so I assume they're considering me for man of the year. I say there's no way they give it to me. They can't. Because, mentally, they can't. They just can't. They can't do it. Even if I deserve it, they can't do it," Trump rambled.

Unfortunately for his ego, Tuesday he was coming in 17th place with 1.9 percent. Some of the other celebrities and politicians placing behind Sanders (but above Trump) are Pope Francis, Barack Obama and Stephen Colbert. Perhaps in a response to Trump's recent anti-Muslim rhetoric, refugees are also trending higher, currently in sixth place.

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Clinton isn't doing well either. She has received 1.2 percent of the vote which puts her in 36th place. Current Secretary of State John Kerry is even polling higher than his predecessor with 1.7 percent. Foreign heads of state Vladimir Putin of Russia and Francois Hollande of France also surpass Clinton. Looking on the bright side, besides Trump, she's outperforming the other Republican candidates.