The Americans will always love you: Dolly Parton beats Obama and Zelensky in US favourability poll
Making it clear the direction that global politics should really head in, Dolly Parton has stormed the competition in a US favourability poll of global leaders, significantly beating Barack Obama and Volodomyr Zelensky.
The country singer tore the competition of 20 global leaders to shreds, winning on a 65 per cent margin compared to her closest rivals, Obama and Zelensky, who only pulled in 14 and 12 per cent of the vote, respectively.
The poll, carried out by the University of Massachusetts and YouGov, saw the 1,000 people surveyed give Parton a 70 per cent favourable view versus a five per cent unfavourable view, hence landing her 65 per cent score.
By comparison, Obama gained a 50 per cent favourability and 36 per cent unfavourability rating, and the Ukrainian president gained 35 per cent favourability and 22 per cent unfavourability.
In terms of a musical counterpart on the list, Parton only has Taylor Swift for company, who comparatively scored just a three per cent net positive.
On the other end of the spectrum, political leaders book ended the negative scales, with Donald Trump scoring -18 per cent, Joe Biden -19 per cent, and Vladimir Putin -65 per cent in the ratings.
Parton’s overwhelmingly positive score is likely strengthened by the fact that she has always avoided political statements in her work, on top of her many and various charitable efforts over the years.
However, the singer was also forced to put fans’ fears to rest recently after they worried about her health. Following the cancellation of a string of shows last year, when Parton was suffering kidney stones, she reassured fans in March that she was now “back to normal”.
She was forced to axe a planned run of Las Vegas shows at the end of 2025, only months after the passing of her husband, Carl Dean, at the age of 82.
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