President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton have topped the list of America's "most admired" man and woman respectively, a latest US poll said today.
Americans named 68-year-old Hillary, record 20th time and 54-year-old Obama, eighth time the woman and man respectively living anywhere in the world they admire most, Gallup poll of Americans said.
Both win by wide margins over the next-closest finishers, Malala Yousafzai for women and Pope Francis and Donald Trump for men, the poll said in its latest survey.
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Gallup said although Clinton and Obama each led this year's poll by significant margins, the percentage mentioning each as most admired is slightly lower than the percentages they have received in the past.
Across the eight times, Obama has been most admired man, an average 23 per cent of Americans have named him, while in the 20 times, Clinton has been most admired woman, an average 16 per cent have named her.
This year, while Obama was name most admired man by 17 per cent, Hillary Clinton by 13 per cent, Gallup added.
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"Ronald Reagan called America 'a shining city on a hill'. Donald Trump calls it 'a divided crime scene' that only he can fix. It doesn't matter to him that illegal immigration and the crime rate are as low as they've been in decades, because he's not offering any real solutions to those issues. He's just offering slogans, and he's offering fear. He's betting that if he scares enough people, he might score just enough votes to win this election," he added.
"That is another bet that Donald Trump will lose. Because he's selling the American people short. We are not a fragile or frightful people," Obama said.
"Apparently, he doesn't know the men and women who make up the strongest fighting force the world has ever known. He suggests America is weak. He must not hear the billions of men, women, and children, from the Baltics to Burma, who still look to America to be the light of freedom, dignity, and human rights," he said.
"He cozies up to Putin, praises Saddam Hussein, and tells NATO allies that stood by our side after 9/11 that they have to pay up if they want our protection. Well, America's promises do not come with a price tag. We meet our commitments. And that's one reason why almost every country on earth sees America as stronger and more respected today than they did eight years ago," he said.
"Our power doesn't come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order. We don't look to be ruled. Our power comes from those immortal declarations first put to paper right here in Philadelphia all those years ago; We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that together, we, the people, can form a more perfect union," he said.
Obama said democracy doesn't work if people constantly demonize each other.
"She (Hillary) knows that for progress to happen, we have to listen to each other, see ourselves in each other, fight for our principles but also fight to find common ground, no matter how elusive that may seem," he said.
Making a passionate plea to elect Hillary as his successor, Obama said time and again, they have elected him.
"Tonight, I ask you to do for Hillary Clinton what you did for me. I ask you to carry her the same way you carried me," he said.
"America, you have vindicated that hope these past eight years. And now I'm ready to pass the baton and do my part as a private citizen. This year, in this election, I'm asking you to join me - to reject cynicism, reject fear, to summon what's best in us; to elect Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States, and show the world we still believe in the promise of this great nation," Obama said.
