Who Should Tom Cruise Date Next? Americans Choose... (Poll)

The Hollywood Reporter

Now that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' divorce has been finalized, the nation's lonely eyes turn to the future of their love lives. Like with any celebrity, the American public has strong sway over Cruise's life and career, and so as part of a survey of potential career fallout for the couple, The Hollywood Reporter asked just what they wanted the Mission: Impossible star to do next with his heart. The results came back as manic as a guy jumping on a couch.

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In a scientific, open-ended survey of 400 pop culture consuming 13-49 year-olds conducted for THR by polling giant Penn Schoen Berland, one thing became apparent: Americans either want Cruise to stick to acting, or just go off-the-rails, tabloid-sensational with his next relationship.

Those that want to see Cruise back on the horse cannot come to any sort of agreement as to who he should court. The name most frequently mentioned was Kim Kardashian (sorry, Kanye), followed by a generic Scientologist (Hollywood has plenty from which he can choose). In close succession were Angelina Jolie (taken), Megan Fox (taken) and John Travolta (taken, though he does fit the Scientologist requirement, as well as another oft-chosen generic description: a man).

Others wanted Cruise to get back together with ex-wife Nicole Kidman, which may not be the easiest patch-up job, while Britney Spears, Katy Perry (also recently divorced!), Jennifer Aniston and just-out CNN host Anderson Cooper also received votes. Basically, Americans want to see Cruise be a homewrecker.

But the biggest response to THR's poll was that Cruise should abstain from dating; it's unclear whether they think no one is good enough for him, or maybe it's a case of three strikes, you're out.

It's hard to say what, exactly, went wrong in Cruise and Holmes' marriage, but that hasn't stopped Americans from drawing definitive opinions on the matter.

The THR poll asked a long series of questions about Americans' opinions on the split. Overall, 79 percent of those surveyed thought that Cruise was responsible for the split, while 85 percent thought Holmes scored an intangible "win" in the proceedings. Still, most surveyed think that Scientology was the major cause of the split.