TIME magazine has released the winner of its ‘Person of the Year’ reader poll. The public has selected North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as its favorite canidate for the title, TIME reported Thursday. Kim succeeded his father Kim Jong-il as the leader of North Korea in 2011.
Though Kim, who appeared on TIME’s February 27 cover, has not secured the actual title of ‘Person of the Year,’ he received an impressive 5.6 million votes in TIME’s reader poll. As TIME executive editor Radhika Jones disclosed in an interview, “While we don’t make our selection based on the poll results, it’s always interesting to see where some of our preferred candidates end up.”
The TIME ‘Person of the Year’ reader poll also yielded interesting results for American political figures. Nearly half of voters – 53 percent said “No Way” to President Barack Obama becoming TIME’s ‘Person of the Year.’ Vice President Joe Biden received 77.71 percent “No Way” votes. Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney received an embarrassing 94.62 percent “No Way” votes. Former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan did only slightly better with 85.94 percent of readers saying “No Way.” Sandra Fluke was not so lucky either, coming away with 66.54 percent “No Way” votes.
On the bright side, New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie won over 77.34 percent of voters and got an overwhelming “Definitely” rating.
TIME’s official Person of the Year will be announced December 19 . In the meantime, those interested in discussing who the official winner should be can follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #POY2012.
