As the Oscars return at the 2012 Academy Awards show this Sunday, Billy Crystal will return as one of the most popular hosts. While the Oscars are actually awarded by the Academy, to find out who average Americans think should win an Academy Award this year, a formal poll was conducted by Harris Interactive, and the results are in.
According to the results of The Harris Poll, in which 2,239 adults were surveyed online between February 13 and 15, 2012, one in five Americans (21%) believes that The Help should win the Academy Award for best picture while one in ten (9%) say the Oscar should go to War Horse.
Others in the top results for the best picture Academy Award were Moneyball (7%), The Artist (6%), Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (5%) and The Descendants (5%). Small percentages believe the Oscar should go to Hugo (3%), Midnight in Paris (3%) and The Tree of Life (2%).
In the category of Best Actor and Actress, almost one quarter of Americans (23%) say George Clooney should win Best Actor for The Descendants followed by 16% who say Brad Pitt should win for his role in Moneyball.
The Oscar for best actress results point to two actresses at the top as 23% of Americans believe Viola Davis should win for her role in The Help while 22% think the award should go to Meryl Streep for her portrayal of The Iron Lady.
Eleven percent of the vote went to Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, followed by Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn (7%) and Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs (4%).