Linux Lite :)

as a complete newbie i was happy to stumble upon Linux Lite and settled there,
so they get my vote

i am going to amaze and astound with my prophetic vision,
and say slackware will come out on top

edit to add:
dang!
that looks bad, me right after the developer of linux lite,
but it was a complete coincidence

Linux lite for me.

A great distro.

I'm always dabbling with various distributions, but Arch has been working very well as my default distro for nearly 15 years now, so it gets my vote again this year.

I'm going with Debian & Arch at this time. A tie for me!

Voted Manjaro since I'm currently using Netrunner Rolling which is based on Manjaro.

"Normally" I'd have voted opensuse which would be true for 13.2 -- currently I struggle with Leap 42.1 and tumbleweed, though. Both much slower in boot and shutdown, with loads of software massively buggy (Kmail2, Thunderbird ...) so that I'll abstain this year.

The one and only Slackware.

elementary OS is awesome! It's got it's issues but overall I think it will be the desktop of the future!

I picked Debian, since it is what I've been using for all my systems, and rock solid. However, I think the most interesting one is NixOS, which I don't think is on the list.

I definitely see things that the elementaryos project is doing that seem more right than wrong. They're doing a great job.

Linux Mint
 

Linux Mint Rebecca. Rock solid and as fast on my old P-4 system as Linux Lite etc.

Some of the distros getting some love never even had a release in 2015. Has to be the *buntus for desktop distro.

Slackware

Slackware for everyday use, crux and LFS for entertainment

I use Mageia because Ubuntu would not install on the second drive where I wanted it to go.
The disk I had on the floor was Mandriva and have been with Mageia ever since.

Linux Mint won sole possession of the title for the first time ever. It must be due to the easy install and remaining with an attractive pull up menu. What is keeping me from going to Linux Mint is the plan to use systemd in the next major version. Slackware has its core following due to its stability, performance, and longevity; but it does take up more time to setup and has a small repository. Ubuntu lost almost 10 percent from the 2014 awards poll. This may be due to a dislike of Unity.

Also, MX Linux could continue to gain in popularity. This is due to having an attractive looking desktop and staying away from systemd as the default init. Since I'm not being able to install most modules in the compiled Xiphos 4.0.4 in Ubuntu Christian Edition 12.04, I'm on my way to switch that install to MX Linux MX-15.

I think Mint Rebecca is a 'buntu desktop distro.
 

I know when I do an update I see Trusty Tahr a bunch while the update is running. I would assume it is a *buntus desktop distro?

yes.
linux mint is based on ubuntu.

That's what I figured. Mint for me is a much more user friendly O.S. than Ubuntu. I didn't know beans about Linux a couple years ago and jumped in with both feet-using 12.04 Ubuntu with the "Unity" desktop. I almost threw in the towel several times but stuck with and sure glad I did. Left Windoze 2-3 years ago and never looked back.