--- title: Bernie Sanders Leads in TIME Person of the Year Poll description: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is holding on to a strong lead over some of 2015's most influential people. canonical: https://time.com/4134801/bernie-sanders-time-person-of-the-year-poll-lead/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-03T17:01:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:51.128Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bernie Sanders Keeps Strong Lead in TIME Person of the Year Poll og:description: Ahead of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton—and even Pope Francis og:url: https://time.com/4134801/bernie-sanders-time-person-of-the-year-poll-lead/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt448847270f434e9c/698873ae428a9ecab5cd063a/gettyimages-499212576.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3400 og:image:height: 1913 og:image:alt: Democratic Presidential Candidates Attend Jefferson-Jackson Dinner In New Hampshire og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bernie Sanders Keeps Strong Lead in TIME Person of the Year Poll twitter:description: Ahead of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton—and even Pope Francis twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt448847270f434e9c/698873ae428a9ecab5cd063a/gettyimages-499212576.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bernie Sanders Keeps Strong Lead in TIME Person of the Year Poll > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Dec 3, 2015 5:01 PM UTC  Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner at the Radisson Hotel November 29, 2015 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner at the Radisson Hotel November 29, 2015 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Darren McCollester—Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Dec 3, 2015 5:01 PM UTC With less than four days until TIME’s [Person of the Year poll](http://time.com/4110428/person-of-the-year-readers-poll-results-2015/) 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](http://poy.time.com/2013/12/11/person-of-the-year-pope-francis-the-peoples-pope/). 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 11:59 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.](http://time.com/4108617/person-of-the-year-poll-2015/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4134801/bernie-sanders-time-person-of-the-year-poll-lead/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4134801/bernie-sanders-time-person-of-the-year-poll-lead/"},"headline":"Bernie Sanders Keeps Strong Lead in TIME Person of the Year Poll","datePublished":"2015-12-03T17:01:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:51.128Z","description":"Ahead of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton—and even Pope Francis","url":"https://time.com/4134801/bernie-sanders-time-person-of-the-year-poll-lead/","keywords":["Person of the Year topic","2016 Election","Bernie Sanders"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt448847270f434e9c/698873ae428a9ecab5cd063a/gettyimages-499212576.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt448847270f434e9c/698873ae428a9ecab5cd063a/gettyimages-499212576.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic Presidential Candidates Attend Jefferson-Jackson Dinner In New Hampshire","caption":"Democratic Presidential Candidates Attend Jefferson-Jackson Dinner In New Hampshire","creditText":"Darren McCollester—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/person-of-the-year-2/","name":"Person of the Year topic"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4134801/bernie-sanders-time-person-of-the-year-poll-lead/","name":"Bernie Sanders Keeps Strong Lead in TIME Person of the Year Poll"}}]}] ```