man of the people

plural men of the people

1. idiomaticA man, usually a celebrity or political leader, who shows understanding of and sympathy for the concerns of ordinary people, and who has a rapport with and acceptance by them.

   Besides, I am a man of the people. I like the working class, and am willing to be thought one of them.

   1911, Anna Katharine Green, “A Concession”, in Initials Only, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, →OCLC, book II (As Seen by Detective Sweetwater), page 134

   4 more examples

   He could hang about a bar-room, discussing the affairs of the nation, for twelve hours together; and in that time could hold forth with more intolerable dulness, chew more tobacco, smoke more tobacco, drink more rum-toddy, mint-julep, gin-sling, and cocktail, than any private gentleman of his acquaintance. This made him an orator and a man of the people. In a word, the major was a rising character, and a popular character, […]

   1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, chapter XVI, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC, pages 202–203

   Colonel, you are the man, you could influence more votes than any one else on such a measure, an old settler, a man of the people, you know the wants of Missouri; [...]

   1873, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], Charles Dudley Warner, chapter XIX, in The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-day, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, published 1874, →OCLC, page 184

   It was the story of a man of the people who made good and kept his integrity, who understood the people and could make them laugh and cry.

   1981 July 27, Serge Schmemann, “Adulation Grows after Death of Soviet Folk Hero Vysotsky”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 Oct 2013

   He is adored by millions as a man of the people because he is of a lower caste — a rarity among politicians.

   2008 February 28, Simon Robinson, “Working on the Railroad: On the Mangala Lakshadweep Express”, in Time, retrieved 16 Oct 2013