Ferguson Protesters Take Lead in TIME's Person of the Year Poll Ferguson protestors have gained the lead in TIME's Person of the Year poll, with seven days to go in the voting. Unrest in Ferguson and around the country focused attention on race and policing, helping to lift Ferguson protestors into first place in the TIME reader poll with 10.7% of the vote. Thousands of demonstrators marched in solidarity with the family of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man who was shot by the police, disrupting Black Friday shopping in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Seattle and other cities. Protests cropped up all across the United States in the wake of a grand jury's decision in Ferguson Monday not to indict the white police officer who fatally shot Brown. Narendra Modi, the newly elected Indian prime minister, stands at 10% in the polls.