Cardano is really much stronger than Polkadot. I underestimated how powerful cult-like followings can be. Doge, XRP, Chainlink are also a bit cultish and not to forget the biggest cult of all BTC of course. Coins with cult-like supporters tend to do well.
I now think Cardano is the only serious Ethereum competitor. Polkadot lost its momentum, but who knows perhaps when the parachains get launched it might become a close competition between those two again, but for now clearly Cardano is the #1 ''ETH killer''. The community in Dot is more in it for the tech and show fewer signs of fanboy-ism.
PS. Charles Hoskinson is only in his early 30s, yet he looks like he is in his 40s, lol. Cadaans age so badly. Nevertheless, the guy is a bit charismatic and knows how to hype up his coin with frequent media appearances and strong activity on social media. Vitalik and Gavin are much more in the background, especially Gavin Wood.