WASHINGTON – First Lady Michelle Obama on Monday tops a new poll purporting to show how warmly Americans regard their leaders, besting even her husband President Barack Obama. Mrs Obama scored a chart-topping “warmth rating” of 60.1 degrees, three degrees hotter than the president, who came in fourth place in the Quinnipiac University “feeling thermometer” with 56.5 degrees. The survey asked voters to rate leaders from O to 100 degrees on the “feeling thermometer” with the highest numbers reflecting the warmest feelings.
At 59.2 degrees, former president Bill Clinton came in second place on the thermometer, while New Jersey’s popular Republican governor Christopher Christie, virtually unknown on the national level one year ago, was third with 57 degrees. Christie “has clearly made a positive impression on the American people,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. The New Jersey governor has ruled out running for the 2012 presidential nomination, despite being heavily recruited to toss his hat into the ring.
