President Barack Obama may fly on Air Force One, but he's also the number one politician most likely to get tossed out of a plane, according to an online survey.
The poll surveyed 1,062 U.S. adults on how they would interact with various U.S. politicians and pundits if they found themselves on the same flight. With 22.3 per cent of the vote, Obama took the title as “the candidate people would most like to eject from their plane,” beating out other politicians like Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney (16.6%); former vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin (15.7%) and past president, George W. Bush (9.6%).
The results even shocked Cheapflights, the travel search website behind the poll, says Ben Rosier, a rep with the company.
“This was meant as a fun poll, but it clearly also highlights the U.S. public’s love/hate relationship with all politicians — and their jaded view of the current campaign. We were genuinely surprised at the number of people who suggested taking the parachute from their choice of candidate for ejection.”
While the 44th U.S. President was the one most likely to get the boot from a plane, he did score some more (positive) labels in the survey. With 15.9 per cent of the vote, Americans rated Obama as the candidate passengers would want to sit next to on a flight. In addition to takings top honours in the "best seat mate category", Obama was also voted most trusted to pilot a plane, winning over one-fifth of the votes.
Dan Quayle, (The U.S.' 44th Vice President) on the other hand, wasn't getting too much love from his fellow Americans and was voted as the candidate they didn't want to sit next to or pilot their plane. No Canadian politicians were mentioned on the survey, but there are a few faces whose airline shenanigans would probably rank them among Quayle.
Back in late October, New Democrat MP Romeo Saganash was removed from an Air Canada Jazz flight after being too drunk to fly. There's also the ruckus that Canadian Senator Rod Zimmer and his wife, Maygan Sensenberger, caused when Sensenberger allegedly threatened to slit her husband's throat on board an Air Canada flight. The dispute later led to Sensenberger pleading guilty to causing a disturbance on a flight in a Saskatchewan court.
Do you have a politician (Canadian or otherwise) who deserves to get booted from a plane? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us your answers @HPCaTravel.
Candidates You'd Sit Next To On A Flight
19. Dan Quayle(01 of19)
Open Image ModalDan Quayle managed to get no votes in Cheapflights' survey of candidates fliers would want for a seat mate.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) (credit:AP)
18. Rev. Jesse Jackson(02 of19)
Open Image ModalRev. Jackson got .3% of the votes.(AP Photo/ Joseph Kaczmarek) (credit:AP)
17. John Edwards(03 of19)
Open Image ModalJohn Edwards got half a percentage point of the total votes.(AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File) (credit:AP)
16. Gerald Ford(04 of19)
Open Image ModalPresident Ford got .8% of the vote, though he died in 2006.(AP Photo/Charles Neibergall) (credit:AP)
15. Al Gore(05 of19)
Open Image ModalThe Vice President scored one percent of all votes in this election.(AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File) (credit:AP)
14. Herman Cain(06 of19)
Open Image ModalCain picked up 1.4% of the total.(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) (credit:AP)
13. Ralph Nader(07 of19)
Open Image ModalNader pulled in 1.8% of votes.(AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (credit:AP)
12. Ross Perot(08 of19)
Open Image ModalThe Texas billionaire got 2.1% of the Cheapflights votes.(AP Photo, file) (credit:AP)
11. Paul Ryan(09 of19)
Open Image ModalTwo and a half percent of people wanted to sit next to the Republican vice presidential candidate.(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) (credit:AP)
10. Joe Biden(10 of19)
Open Image ModalVice President Joe Biden got 3.4% of the total votes.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (credit:AP)
9. Jimmy Carter(11 of19)
Open Image ModalFormer U.S. President Jimmy Carter did slightly better than Vice President Biden, with 3.6% of the vote.(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) (credit:AP)
8. George W. Bush(12 of19)
Open Image ModalFormer President George W. Bush fell just short of another candidate in this voting, with a 5.6% share of the ballots.(AP Photo/LM Otero, File) (credit:AP)
7. Mitt Romney(13 of19)
Open Image ModalRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney got one more vote than President Bush to take seventh in this election.(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (credit:AP)
6. Hilary Clinton(14 of19)
Open Image ModalThe Secretary of State got 7.9% of the vote.(AP Photo/Cliff Owen) (credit:AP)
5. Sarah Palin(15 of19)
Open Image ModalAlmost nine percent of travelers polled would like to share a long flight with the former VP candidate.(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) (credit:AP)
4. Stephen Colbert(16 of19)
Open Image ModalColbert won 11.8% of the ballots.(Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
3. Ronald Reagan(17 of19)
Open Image ModalDeceased President Ronald Reagan pulled in 12.4% of the vote.(AP Photo/Peter Southwick, File) (credit:AP)
2. Bill Clinton(18 of19)
Open Image ModalFormer President Bill Clinton came in second in this poll, with 14.8% of the vote. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) (credit:AP)
1. Barack Obama(19 of19)
Open Image ModalThe president was number one in the Cheapflights election, with 15.9% of more than 1,000 poll respondents saying they'd like to sit next to Obama on a long flight.(AP Photo/Morry Gash, File) (credit:AP)