Time magazine readers have voiced their support for Bernie Sanders to be named the publication's "Person of the Year."

Sanders may not have won a Nobel Peace Prize for promoting girls' education in the Middle East or led the more than 1 billion members of the world's largest Christian denomination, but the Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate had no trouble beating the likes of Malala Yousafzai and Pope Francis in this year's online readers' poll for "Time Person of the Year," the magazine reported.

The socialist lawmaker scored a little more than 10 percent of the vote, thus relegating Yousafzai (5.2 percent) and Francis (3.7 percent) to the second and third ranks, Time detailed. Some other key American political figures, meanwhile, did not even come close.

President Barack Obama was supported by 3.5 percent of readers online, while Hillary Clinton -- Sanders' main rival in the race for the Democrats' 2016 White House nomination -- received 1.4 percent. The top scoring Republican, meanwhile, was real estate tycoon and GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump at 1.8 percent.

Sanders, who so far has not been able to catch up to Clinton in national polls, has at times drawn huge crowds on the campaign trail and has amassed a loyal following among those sharing the senator's goal of pushing big money out of politics.

"A lot of people have given up on the political process, and I want to get them involved in it," he told Time. "In this fight we are going to take on the greed of the billionaire class. And they are very, very powerful, and they're going to fight back furiously. The only way to succeed is when millions of people stand up and decide to engage."

At 74 years old, Sanders is the oldest presidential hopeful in either party, but the senator's appeal to young Americans was once again on Tuesday during a Maryland campaign stop, the Baltimore Sun noted.

"We have to transform our national priorities, and invest in our kids," he said, as he walked through a Baltimore neighborhood for about 20 minutes, the newspaper described.