Columbia Pictures CorporationJohn McCain and Barack Obama have nothing on James Marshall.
Not only is he once again America's favorite big-screen hero following the latest Indiana Jones adventure, but Harrison Ford has topped AOL Moviefone's list of the best fictional movie presidents Americans would like to see in the real-life Oval Office.
In an online poll that received more than 1.1 million votes, the Hollywood icon beat out 16 candidates for the honor of most-popular cinematic commander in chief, largely on the strength of the leadership, not to mention kickass poise, he exhibited as President Marshall saving his family from a group of terrorists who hijacked his plane in 1997's blockbuster hit Air Force One.
"Clearly he's the President Ford Americans wanted all along," Moviefone Editor-in-Chief Scott Robson tells E! News. "Plus, at time when the economy's going down and Iraq is still going on, voters find something reassuring in a president who's capable of single-handedly taking down terrorists, foiling Nazi treasure hunters and defeating evil empires. maybe he should run in 2012."
Sorry, W.
Ford tallied 24 percent of the vote, a landslide compared to 16 percent for his closest rival, Morgan Freeman. The latter earned the No. 2 spot for his solemn performance as the prez leading the nation through certain peril as Earth faces down a head-on collision with a comet in 1998's Deep Impact.
"As for Morgan Freeman, I don't know how many people even remember Deep Impact, so I suspect we're catching voters in an Obama kind of mood," Robson added.
Coming in third with 15 percent was Michael Douglas for his romantic spin on the world's most powerful job, playing Andrew Shepherd, a widowed U.S. president and single dad who falls for a lobbyist played by Annette Bening in 1995's The American President, directed by Rob Reiner and penned by The West Wing's Aaron Sorkin.
Moviegoers who still think Bill Pullman's President Thomas J. Whitmore is the bravest of them all for leading an air raid against alien invaders in 1996's Independence Day bestowed him fourth place, with 12 percent of the vote.
The poll was conducted from Sept. 23 through Oct. 21. Here's a rundown of the top 10:
1. Harrison Ford, Air Force One (1997)
2. Morgan Freeman, Deep Impact (1998)
3. Michael Douglas, The American President (1995)
4. Bill Pullman, Independence Day (1996)
5. Kevin Kline, Dave (1993)
6. Dennis Quaid, American Dreamz (2006)
7. Bruce Greenwood, National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
8. James Cromwell, The Sum of All Fears (2002)
9. Jack Nicholson, Mars Attacks (1996)
10. Jeff Bridges, The Contender (2000)