--- title: Bernie Sanders Leads TIME 100 Reader Poll description: The Vermont senator is leading the 2016 TIME 100 poll after two days of voting, coming in ahead of President Barack Obama and Lady Gaga canonical: https://time.com/4272078/bernie-sanders-time-100-poll/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-25T16:20:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-07-21T07:15:08.427Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bernie Sanders Leads TIME 100 Reader Poll og:description: He's ahead of Hillary Clinton—and President Obama og:url: https://time.com/4272078/bernie-sanders-time-100-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d21506629e2de06/69888c860b72e3e28a6e8af1/bernie-sanders-presidental-candidate.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Holds Los Angeles Campaign Rally og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bernie Sanders Leads TIME 100 Reader Poll twitter:description: He's ahead of Hillary Clinton—and President Obama twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d21506629e2de06/69888c860b72e3e28a6e8af1/bernie-sanders-presidental-candidate.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bernie Sanders Leads TIME 100 Reader Poll by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Mar 25, 2016 4:20 PM UTC  Senator Bernie Sanders speaks during a campaign event in Los Angeles on March 23, 2016. Senator Bernie Sanders speaks during a campaign event in Los Angeles on March 23, 2016.Patrick T. Fallon—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Mar 25, 2016 4:20 PM UTC Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is [leading](http://time.com/4264934/2016-time-100-poll-results/) [the 2016 TIME 100 poll](http://time.com/4264746/2016-time-100-poll/) after two days of voting, coming in ahead of President Obama and Lady Gaga among the people TIME readers think should appear on our annual list of the most influential people in the world. Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, has 5.1% of the “yes” votes as of Friday afternoon, well ahead of his rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is in the middle of the pack with 0.8% of the yes votes. While the self-identified democratic socialist senator is lagging behind Clinton in the race for the nomination, Sanders has helped shape the Democratic debate with his focus on income inequality. Second in the poll to Sanders is the Korean pop group Big Bang, which has 2.1% of the yes votes. Among celebrities, Lady Gaga, Leonardo DiCaprio and Emma Watson are the favorites of TIME readers taking the poll. Perennial favorites including Malala Yousafzai, the young Nobel-prize winning Pakistani activist, and Pope Francis are also top vote-getters. The TIME 100 is comprised of world leaders, great minds in science and technology, outstanding figures in the arts and other icons of the moment. TIME’s editors ultimately choose the TIME 100, but we want to know what you think. Vote in the poll [here](http://time.com/4264746/2016-time-100-poll/), and see the results [here](http://time.com/4264934/2016-time-100-poll-results/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4272078/bernie-sanders-time-100-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4272078/bernie-sanders-time-100-poll/"},"headline":"Bernie Sanders Leads TIME 100 Reader Poll","datePublished":"2016-03-25T16:20:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:15:08.427Z","description":"He's ahead of Hillary Clinton—and President Obama","url":"https://time.com/4272078/bernie-sanders-time-100-poll/","keywords":["TIME100","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","Bernie Sanders","TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d21506629e2de06/69888c860b72e3e28a6e8af1/bernie-sanders-presidental-candidate.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/blt6d21506629e2de06/69888c860b72e3e28a6e8af1/bernie-sanders-presidental-candidate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Holds Los Angeles Campaign Rally","caption":"Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Holds Los Angeles Campaign Rally","creditText":"Patrick T. 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