Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential hopeful and crumudgeony Jewish mascot, has been voted “Person of the Year” by Time magazine’s online readers. The polls closed Sunday night, giving Sanders the majority vote with a little over 10%; Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai came in second place with 5.2% of the vote, and Pope Francis was next with 3.7%s. Other notable contenders left in the dust included Adele (2.3%) and Triple Crown Winner American Pharaoh (1.4%), as well as fellow candidates Hillary Clinton (1.4%) and Donald Trump (1.8%).
In the real race—the presidential race, that is—Bernie’s numbers aren’t nearly as remarkable: He trails Clinton by 28 points, according to one recent poll. But the Vermont senator should still enjoy it, because now he’s been inducted into Time‘s “reader’s choice” hall-of-fame, alongside other public favorites like wrestler Mick Foley and the former President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez.
Wednesday morning on NBC’s Today show, editors of Time will reveal their pick for “Person of the Year,” a decision made independently from the poll’s results. But if Sanders were to win, he’d be the only presidential candidate in the publication’s history to be granted the title before the end of a campaign (although some presidential victors have nabbed the title while in office).
Tess Cutler is an intern at Tablet.
