Philadelphia-based Fidelum Partners, a research-based consulting and professional services firm asked 1,012 adults to rate Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, her Republican rival Donald Trump and other famous people on qualities related to warmth and competence.
The two traits have been shown by Princeton University social psychologist Susan Fiske and others to underlie many of people's preferences, feeling admiration and loyalty to those considered both warm and competent, and contempt and rejection for those considered cold and incompetent.
Gates scored by far the highest on competence and second only to American comedian and Tv host Ellen DeGeneres on warmth, with similar support from both parties.
Clinton and Trump, by comparison, scored very low on average, with admiration from their own party but contempt from the other.
The study also asked how likely people would be to vote for different options.
Twenty-eight per cent said they would definitely vote for Gates, the same share that said they would definitely vote for Trump and higher than anyone except Clinton (33%) and Barack Obama (42% if he could run again).
