Bernie Sanders Keeps Strong Lead in TIME Person of the Year Poll
With less than four days until TIME's Person of the Year poll closes, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is holding on to a strong lead over some of 2015's most influential people. The Vermont Senator had 10.5 of the vote in the reader poll as of Thursday morning, well ahead of Malala Yousafzai, who is in second place at 5.2. Trailing Sanders is Pope Francis, at 3.8, TIME's 2013 Person of the Year. Sanders is far ahead of other presidential candidates, including Republican Donald Trump 2 and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton 1.3. While American political figures from John F. Kennedy to Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan have been recognized as Man of Year after winning the White House the issue changed to Person of the Year in 1999, no presidential candidate has been named Person of the Year prior to the end of the campaign. Due to the popularity of the readers' choice poll, TIME has extended the deadline to Dec. 6 at 1159 p.m. TIME's editors will choose the Person of the Year, the person TIME believes most influenced the news this year for better or worse, but that doesn't mean readers shouldn't have their say. Cast your vote here.