Historical rankings of presidents of the United States
From the very beginning of the republic, Americans have pondered the legacy of their presidents, debating who truly stands among the 'greats' and who falls short. But how do we objectively measure the impact of a leader whose decisions shaped a nation? This article explores the fascinating world of presidential rankings, revealing how historians and the public attempt to answer that complex question. Scholarly polls consistently place a few presidents, like Abraham Lincoln, at the top for their crisis leadership and moral authority, while others, such as James Buchanan, frequently rank at the bottom. Ranking criteria have evolved significantly over time, with modern surveys incorporating detailed metrics from economic management to international relations and even explicit considerations of diversity and racial justice. Recent presidents often experience shifts in their rankings as historical context and new perspectives emerge, reflecting the ongoing, dynamic nature of historical assessment.
AI Summary
From the very beginning of the republic, Americans have pondered the legacy of their presidents, debating who truly stands among the 'greats' and who falls short. But how do we objectively measure the impact of a leader whose decisions shaped a nation? This article explores the fascinating world of presidential rankings, revealing how historians and the public attempt to answer that complex question.
- Scholarly polls consistently place a few presidents, like Abraham Lincoln, at the top for their crisis leadership and moral authority, while others, such as James Buchanan, frequently rank at the bottom.
- Ranking criteria have evolved significantly over time, with modern surveys incorporating detailed metrics from economic management to international relations and even explicit considerations of diversity and racial justice.
- Recent presidents often experience shifts in their rankings as historical context and new perspectives emerge, reflecting the ongoing, dynamic nature of historical assessment.
The Quest to Rank Presidents
For decades, academics and the public alike have engaged in a curious and complex exercise: ranking the presidents of the United States. These aren't just casual discussions; since the mid-20th century, rigorous surveys have sought to create historical standings based on performance and legacy.
These ranking systems typically draw on the expertise of academic historians and political scientists, though popular opinion polls also play a role. The goal is to evaluate presidential achievements, leadership qualities, and even their faults and failures, painting a comprehensive picture of their time in office.
Interestingly, despite shifting historical interpretations and new data, certain figures consistently emerge at the top and bottom. Abraham Lincoln, for instance, is almost universally ranked as the best, lauded for his leadership during the Civil War. Conversely, his predecessor, James Buchanan, frequently holds the unfortunate distinction of being ranked the worst.
Long before formal polls, the idea of presidential greatness was etched into our national consciousness. Think of Mount Rushmore, a colossal tribute selected in the 1920s to embody the nation's birth, growth, development, and preservation through the faces of Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lincoln. It's an iconic symbol, a tangible early ranking.
Early Efforts: The Schlesinger Polls
The formal practice of ranking presidents through academic surveys took root in the mid-20th century. Harvard historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. pioneered this field, conducting influential polls in 1948 and again in 1962, gathering insights from fellow historians.
His son, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., carried on this tradition, conducting another significant poll in 1996. These early surveys laid the groundwork for future evaluations, establishing a methodological approach to assessing presidential performance.
Expanding the Field: From Chicago to Siena
Beyond the Schlesinger legacy, other institutions soon joined the effort. In 1982, the Chicago Tribune surveyed 49 historians, adding to the growing body of data on presidential performance.
A particularly enduring series of rankings comes from the Siena College Research Institute (SCRI), which began its surveys in 1982 and has continued them regularly for decades. These polls are unique because they typically occur during the second year of a new president's first term, offering a snapshot of initial expert opinion.
Siena's comprehensive approach asks historians, political scientists, and presidential scholars to rate presidents across a wide array of attributes, abilities, and accomplishments. This detailed methodology allows for nuanced comparisons that go beyond simple 'good' or 'bad' labels.
The 1994 Siena survey, for example, highlighted the consistent admiration for Franklin D. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, who scored above 80 points. On the other end of the spectrum, Andrew Johnson and Warren G. Harding consistently ranked below 50 points, indicating persistent scholarly consensus on their less effective presidencies.
The C-SPAN Survey: A Consistent Barometer
Another highly regarded series of rankings is the C-SPAN Survey of Presidential Leadership, which has been conducted multiple times since 2000. This survey polls a large group of presidential historians and biographers, seeking their insights on various aspects of leadership.
The C-SPAN method is quite granular: historians rate each president on a scale of one to ten across ten specific leadership categories. Each category is equally weighted, providing a balanced assessment of a president's diverse responsibilities.
These ten criteria allow experts to evaluate a president from multiple angles, acknowledging that a leader's impact extends far beyond a single policy or event.
Public Persuasion Crisis Leadership Economic Management Moral Authority International Relations Administrative Skills Relations with Congress Vision/Setting An Agenda Pursued Equal Justice for All Performance Within the Context of His Times
Remarkably, the results of all four C-SPAN surveys have shown remarkable consistency. Abraham Lincoln has always held the top spot, and George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Theodore Roosevelt have consistently ranked in the top five. Similarly, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Franklin Pierce have remained at the very bottom.
International and Evolving Perspectives
Presidential rankings aren't solely an American preoccupation. A 2011 survey by the United States Presidency Centre (USPC) in London polled British specialists in American history and politics, offering a valuable international perspective.
This survey used five categories: vision/agenda-setting, domestic leadership, foreign policy leadership, moral authority, and positive historical significance of legacy. Interestingly, Franklin D. Roosevelt emerged first overall, and in specific categories like vision and foreign policy.
One notable divergence from American polls was the relatively lower ranking of John F. Kennedy, who placed fifteenth. British academics, it seemed, were more inclined to 'fault JFK for the gap between his rhetoric and his substantive achievements as president,' highlighting differing interpretive lenses.
Contemporary events can also subtly influence rankings. For example, some speculate that Franklin D. Roosevelt's ranking might have been buoyed by the fact that the 2011 poll was conducted amidst the worst economic troubles since the Great Depression, drawing parallels to his crisis leadership.
The Impact of Recent History
Recent presidents often see their rankings fluctuate as time provides greater perspective and new historical information comes to light. The inclusion of new presidents in surveys also shifts the overall landscape, like Donald Trump entering the rankings in the late 2010s.
In surveys like the 2018 and 2022 Siena polls, Donald Trump consistently ranked in the bottom three alongside perennial low-rankers Buchanan and Andrew Johnson. Self-identified Republican historians also placed him in their bottom five, suggesting a broad consensus among scholars regarding his presidency's historical standing.
Organizers of some recent studies have suggested that a president's 'respect for political and institutional norms' has become an increasingly important factor in how scholars evaluate their legacy, reflecting contemporary concerns about democratic governance.
The 2022 Siena poll, for instance, saw shifts for many presidents. While the top three—FDR, Lincoln, and Washington—remained firm, figures like Barack Obama and Ulysses S. Grant saw their standings improve. Conversely, Andrew Jackson and Ronald Reagan experienced slight declines, illustrating the dynamic nature of historical assessment.
A Different Lens: Race and the Presidency
Beyond traditional measures of leadership and accomplishment, some scholars have developed specific frameworks to evaluate presidents through the critical lens of race. This approach examines a president's views and actions concerning racial equality and justice, often revealing starkly different historical narratives.
Professors Hanes Walton Jr. and Robert Smith, in their book American Politics and the African American Quest for Universal Freedom, categorize presidents into five groups based on their racial views and policies. These categories allow for a more nuanced understanding of presidential impact on civil rights.
White supremacist Institutionally racist Institutionally neutral Ambivalent Anti-racist George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson Chester A. Arthur, Franklin D. Roosevelt Rutherford B. Hayes, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Barack Obama Donald Trump (personal belief) Donald Trump (policy actions)
This framework distinguishes between personal beliefs, like 'White supremacist,' and 'Institutionally racist' actions, which incorporate policy. For instance, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson appear in the first two categories, reflecting the reality of their slaveholding and the racial structures of their time. Meanwhile, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant are recognized for their 'Anti-racist' efforts.
A more recent approach by Alvin Tillery and Christina Greer in 2019 polled academic researchers on 14 modern presidents, specifically rating their 'overall leadership and rhetoric on diversity and inclusion.' This modern survey underscores the increasing importance of these criteria in contemporary historical evaluations.
Article
Historical rankings of presidents of the United States
In the 1920s, sculptor Gutzon Borglum and President Calvin Coolidge selected (from left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to appear on Mount Rushmore. It later became an iconic symbol of presidential greatness, chosen to represent the nation's birth, growth, development, and preservation, respectively.
In political studies, since the mid 20th-century, surveys have been conducted in order to construct historical rankings of the success of the presidents of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists, or popular opinion. The scholarly rankings focus on presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures, and faults. Among such scholarly rankings, Abraham Lincoln is most often ranked as the best, while his predecessor James Buchanan is most often ranked as the worst. Popular-opinion polls typically focus on recent or well-known presidents.
History
20th century
A 1948 poll was conducted by historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. of Harvard University. A 1962 survey was also conducted by Schlesinger, who surveyed 75 historians. Schlesinger's son, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., conducted another poll in 1996. The Chicago Tribune surveyed 49 historians in 1982.
The Siena College Research Institute (SCRI) began conducting surveys in 1982 and continued in 1990, 1994, 2002, (/wiki/2010SienaCollegesurvey(historicalrankingsofpresidentsoftheUnitedStates)), (/wiki/2018SienaCollegesurvey(historicalrankingsofpresidentsoftheUnitedStates)), and (/wiki/2022SienaCollegesurvey(historicalrankingsofpresidentsoftheUnitedStates)) during the second year of the first term of each president since Ronald Reagan. These surveys collect presidential rankings from historians, political scientists, and presidential scholars in a range of attributes, abilities, and accomplishments. The 1994 survey placed only two presidents (Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt) above 80 points and two presidents (Andrew Johnson and Warren G. Harding) below 50 points.
In 1996, William J. Ridings Jr. and Stuart B. McIver conducted and published a poll and in 1997, an accompanying book on the poll results. 719 people took part in the poll, primarily academic historians and political scientists, although some politicians and celebrities also took part. Participants from every state were included and emphasis was placed upon getting input from female historians and "specialists in African American studies" as well as a few non-American historians. Poll respondents rated the presidents in five categories (leadership qualities, accomplishments, crisis management, political skill, appointments, and character and integrity) and the results were tabulated to create the overall ranking.
2000–2017
A 2005 presidential poll was conducted by James Lindgren for the Federalist Society and The Wall Street Journal. As in the 2000 survey, the editors sought to balance the opinions of liberals and conservatives, adjusting the results "to give Democratic- and Republican-leaning scholars equal weight". Although Franklin D. Roosevelt still ranked in the top three, editor James Taranto observed that Democratic-leaning scholars rated George W. Bush the sixth-worst president of all time while Republican scholars rated him the sixth-best, giving him a split-decision rating of "average". In 2008, The Times daily newspaper of London asked eight of its own "top international and political commentators" to rank all 42 presidents "in order of greatness".
The C-SPAN Survey of Presidential Leadership consists of rankings from a group of presidential historians and biographers. The C-SPAN Survey of Presidential Leadership has taken place four times: in 2000, 2009, (/wiki/2017C-SPANsurvey(historicalrankingsofpresidentsoftheUnitedStates)), and (/wiki/2021C-SPANsurvey(historicalrankingsofpresidentsoftheUnitedStates)). The 2021 survey was of 142 presidential historians, surveyed by C-SPAN's Academic Advisor Team, made up of Douglas G. Brinkley, Edna Greene Medford, Richard Norton Smith, and Amity Shlaes. In the survey, each historian rates each president on a scale of one ("not effective") to 10 ("very effective") on presidential leadership in ten categories: Public Persuasion, Crisis Leadership, Economic Management, Moral Authority, International Relations, Administrative Skills, Relations with Congress, Vision/Setting An Agenda, Pursued Equal Justice for All, and Performance Within the Context of His Times—with each category equally weighed. The results of all four C-SPAN surveys have been fairly consistent. Abraham Lincoln has taken the highest ranking in each survey and George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Theodore Roosevelt have always ranked in the top five while James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Franklin Pierce have been ranked at the bottom of all four surveys.
The 2011 survey, the first poll asking UK academics to rate American presidents, was conducted by the United States Presidency Centre (USPC) at the Institute for the Study of the Americas (located in the University of London's School of Advanced Study). This polled the opinion of British specialists in American history and politics to assess presidential performance. They also gave an interim assessment of Barack Obama, but his unfinished presidency was not included in the survey (had he been included, he would have attained eighth place overall).
In 2012, Newsweek asked a panel of historians to rank the ten best presidents since 1900. The results showed that historians had ranked Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and Obama as the best since that year. A 2015 poll administered by the American Political Science Association (APSA) among political scientists specializing in the American presidency had Abraham Lincoln in the top spot, with Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Truman, Eisenhower, Clinton, Andrew Jackson, and Wilson making the top 10. A 2016 survey of 71 British specialists by the Presidential History Network produced similar results to the 2011 USPC survey, with Obama placed in the top quartile.
Since 2018
A second Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey was sent to members of the Presidents and Executive Politics section of the APSA in 2018. It ranked Donald Trump for the first time, putting him in the last position. In the 2024 edition, Trump scored 10.92 out of 100, easily the worst, while self-identified Republican historians rated Trump in the bottom five. The study organizers observed a drop in recent Republican presidents' scores by speculating that respondents valued presidents that respected political and institutional norms. The first version of this poll was conducted in 2015.
The 2018 Siena poll of 157 presidential scholars reported George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson as the top five U.S. presidents, with SCRI director Don Levy stating, "The top five, Mount Rushmore plus FDR, is carved in granite with presidential historians." Trump—entering the SCRI survey for the first time—joined Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan among the bottom three U.S. presidents. George W. Bush, whom presidential scholars had rated fifth lowest in the previous 2010 survey, improved in position to 12th lowest. The 2022 Siena poll had Franklin D. Roosevelt first, Lincoln second, and Washington third, with the bottom three as Trump, Buchanan, and Johnson.
The 2021 C-SPAN poll showed a continued recent rehabilitation of Ulysses S. Grant, showed George W. Bush improving, Barack Obama remaining high, and Trump with the fourth lowest ranking. After Trump's election to a non-consecutive second term, C-SPAN postponed its planned 2025 survey, explaining that "with a former president returning to office, conducting the survey now would turn it from historical analysis to punditry."
Scholar survey summary
Historical rankings of presidents of the United States
Blue backgrounds indicate rankings in the first quartile. Green backgrounds indicate rankings in the second quartile. Yellow-green backgrounds indicate the median ranking of an odd number of presidents. Yellow backgrounds indicate rankings in the third quartile. Orange backgrounds indicate rankings in the fourth quartile. Italics within row indicate rank awarded before president had completed term in office. Underline within a column indicates a given survey's lowest-ranking president.
At leftmost column head, click "triangles" to view the in-office order of each president. At each survey column head, click on "triangles" to view the ranking order for each president in that survey. Scroll in the center of the table. The headers will remain in view. If you see a "[disable]" button to the top left of the table, click on it to display the whole width of the table without needing to scroll.
Scholar surveys
1982 Murray–Blessing
The Murray–Blessing 1982 survey asked historians whether they were liberal or conservative on domestic, social, and economic issues. The two groups had only small differences in ranking the best and worst presidents. Both groups agreed on the composition of nine of the top ten presidents (they were split over the inclusion of either Dwight D. Eisenhower or Lyndon B. Johnson) and six of the worst seven (split over Calvin Coolidge or Jimmy Carter).
<table><thead><tr><th>Rank</th><th>Liberals (n = 190)</th><th>Conservatives (n = 50)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>Abraham Lincoln</td><td>Abraham Lincoln</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Franklin D. Roosevelt</td><td>George Washington</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>George Washington</td><td>Franklin D. Roosevelt</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Thomas Jefferson</td><td>Thomas Jefferson</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Theodore Roosevelt</td><td>Theodore Roosevelt</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Woodrow Wilson</td><td>Andrew Jackson</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Andrew Jackson</td><td>Harry S. Truman</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Harry S. Truman</td><td>Woodrow Wilson</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Lyndon B. Johnson</td><td>Dwight D. Eisenhower</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>John Adams</td><td>John Adams</td></tr><tr><td>...</td><td>...</td><td>...</td></tr><tr><td>30</td><td>Calvin Coolidge</td><td>Jimmy Carter</td></tr><tr><td>31</td><td>Franklin Pierce</td><td>Richard Nixon</td></tr><tr><td>32</td><td>James Buchanan</td><td>Franklin Pierce</td></tr><tr><td>33</td><td>Andrew Johnson</td><td>Andrew Johnson</td></tr><tr><td>34</td><td>Ulysses S. Grant</td><td>James Buchanan</td></tr><tr><td>35</td><td>Richard Nixon</td><td>Ulysses S. Grant</td></tr><tr><td>36</td><td>Warren G. Harding</td><td>Warren G. Harding</td></tr></tbody></table>
2010 Siena College
Abbreviations: Bg = Background PL = Party leadership CAb = Communication ability RC = Relations with Congress CAp = Court appointments HE = Handling of economy L = Luck AC = Ability to compromise WR = Willing to take risks EAp = Executive appointments OA = Overall ability Im = Imagination DA = Domestic accomplishments Int = Integrity EAb = Executive ability FPA = Foreign policy accomplishments LA = Leadership ability IQ = Intelligence AM = Avoiding crucial mistakes EV = Experts' view O = Overall Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile. Green backgrounds indicate second quartile. Yellow-green backgrounds indicate the median. Yellow backgrounds indicate third quartile. Orange backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.
2011 USPC
In September/October 2010, the United States Presidency Centre (USPC) of the Institute for the Study of the Americas at the University of London surveyed 47 British specialists on American history and politics. Presidents were rated from 1 to 10 in five categories:
• Vision/agenda-setting: "did the president have the clarity of vision to establish overarching goals for his administration and shape the terms of policy discourse?" • Domestic leadership: "did the president display the political skill needed to achieve his domestic objectives and respond effectively to unforeseen developments?" • Foreign policy leadership: "was the president an effective leader in promoting US foreign policy interests and national security?" • Moral authority: "did the president uphold the moral authority of his office through his character, values, and conduct?" • Positive historical significance of legacy: "did the president's legacy have positive benefits for America's development over time?"
William Henry Harrison (1841) and James Garfield (1881) were not rated because they died shortly after taking office. Barack Obama (2009–2017) ranked 8th in interim ranking as of January 2011, but was not counted in the final results (and thus did not affect the rankings of other presidents) because he had yet to complete a term. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945) came in first overall and in the categories of vision/agenda, domestic leadership, and foreign policy leadership. Washington came in first for moral authority; Lincoln for his legacy. Morgan believes it is likely that Roosevelt's ranking (which only marginally surpassed Lincoln's) rose because the poll was conducted during the worst economic troubles since the 1930s.
Of presidents since 1960, only Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama (in interim results) placed in the top ten; Obama was the highest-ranked president since Harry S. Truman (1945–1953). Most of the other recent presidents held middling positions, although George W. Bush placed in the bottom ten, the lowest-ranked president since Warren G. Harding (1921–1923). Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969) would have been placed "much higher in recognition of his civil rights achievement but for the corrosive effect of Vietnam on his foreign policy and moral authority scores". As with U.S. polls, the bottom five (other than Harding) were president before and after the Civil War. One of the more significant differences from American polls is the relatively low ranking of John F. Kennedy (1961–1963), who placed fifteenth. British academics "seemingly faulted JFK for the gap between his rhetoric and his substantive achievements as president."
Abbreviations: VSA = Vision/Setting an agenda DL = Domestic leadership FPL = Foreign-policy leadership MA = Moral authority HL = Historical legacy (positive significance of) O = Overall Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile. Green backgrounds indicate second quartile. Yellow backgrounds indicate third quartile. Orange backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.
Each category is ranked according to its averaged numerical score (in parentheses). Source:
2016 PHN
In 2016, the Presidential History Network surveyed 71 named British and Irish specialists. The questions were the same as in the USPC survey, which was directed by some of the same people. Some respondents did not rate presidents that they were not familiar with. The minimum number of responses (62) were for the rather obscure and inconsequential presidents Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison. 69–70 rated all recent presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt on.
Abbreviations: VSA = Vision/Setting an agenda DL = Domestic leadership FPL = Foreign-policy leadership MA = Moral authority HL = Historical legacy (positive significance of) O = Overall Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile. Green backgrounds indicate second quartile. Yellow-green backgrounds indicate the median. Yellow backgrounds indicate third quartile. Orange backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.
Each category is ranked according to its averaged numerical score. Source:
2017 C-SPAN
Abbreviations: PP = Public persuasion CL = Crisis leadership EM = Economic management MA = Moral authority IR = International relations AS = Administrative skills RC = Relations with Congress VSA = Vision/Setting an agenda PEJ = Pursued equal justice for all PCT = Performance within context of times O = Overall Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile. Green backgrounds indicate second quartile. Yellow-green backgrounds indicate the median. Yellow backgrounds indicate third quartile. Orange backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.
2018 Siena College
On February 13, 2019, Siena released its sixth presidential poll. The poll was initiated in 1982 and occurs one year into the term of each new president. It is currently a survey of 157 presidential scholars across a range of leadership parameters. The ranking awarded the top five spots to George Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson, in keeping with prior surveys. Washington had been ranked fourth in all previous surveys, and Franklin Roosevelt first.
• The numbers below do not match the source where there are ties in the rankings. They have instead been counted as ties are in other polls (e.g. 26, 27, 27, 27, 30 rather than 26, 27, 27, 27, 28), so that all categories span the range 1–44.
Abbreviations: Bg = Background Im = Imagination Int = Integrity IQ = Intelligence L = Luck WR = Willing to take risks AC = Ability to compromise EAb = Executive ability LA = Leadership ability CAb = Communication ability OA = Overall ability PL = Party leadership RC = Relations with Congress CAp = Court appointments HE = Handling of economy EAp = Executive appointments DA = Domestic accomplishments FPA = Foreign policy accomplishments AM = Avoiding crucial mistakes EV = Experts' view O = Overall Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile. Green backgrounds indicate second quartile. Yellow backgrounds indicate third quartile. Orange backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.
2021 C-SPAN
Abbreviations: PP = Public persuasion CL = Crisis leadership EM = Economic management MA = Moral authority IR = International relations AS = Administrative skills RC = Relations with Congress VSA = Vision/Setting an agenda PEJ = Pursued equal justice for all PCT = Performance within context of times O = Overall Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile. Green backgrounds indicate second quartile. Yellow backgrounds indicate third quartile. Orange backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.
2022 Siena College
The Siena College Research Institute released their seventh poll results on June 22, 2022. The best 10% and worst 10% remain unchanged from their 2018 poll (top five: F. D. Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washington, T. Roosevelt, Jefferson; bottom five: A. Johnson, Buchanan, Trump, Harding, Pierce). 41% of the scholars polled said that if a president were to be added to Mount Rushmore, it should be FDR. 63% believed that the president should be elected by a national popular vote; whereas, 17% supported the Electoral College.
A year into his term, Joe Biden entered the ranking in the second quartile, at nineteenth place out of 45. Among recent presidents, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama moved up in the rankings, while George W. Bush and Donald Trump moved down, though part of the downward shift was due to the addition of a new president to the poll. Counting from the other direction, Trump remained unchanged at third place from last. The changes were relatively small (one or two places), apart from Obama, who moved up six places (14%) to eleventh place, in the first quartile. Notable shifts among earlier presidents included the continuing rehabilitation of Lyndon Johnson, up 8 places into the first quartile, and of Ulysses Grant, up 3 places (up 8 in the individual evaluations) into the second quartile; and the lessening appreciation of Andrew Jackson, down 4 places to the median (down 7, into the third quartile, in the individual evaluations); Ronald Reagan, down 5 places, remaining in the second quartile; and Zachary Taylor, down 6 places into the fourth quartile.
Abbreviations: Bg = Background (family, education, experience) Im = Imagination Int = Integrity IQ = Intelligence L = Luck WR = Willing to take risks AC = Ability to compromise EAb = Executive ability LA = Leadership ability CAb = Communication ability (speak, write) OA = Overall ability PL = Party leadership RC = Relationship with Congress CAp = Court appointments HE = Handling of U.S. economy EAp = Executive appointments DA = Domestic accomplishments FPA = Foreign policy accomplishments AM = Avoiding crucial mistakes PV = Present overall view [the average ranking of the polled experts] O = Overall rank [the average of the individual parameters]
Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile. Green backgrounds indicate second quartile. Yellow-green backgrounds indicate the median. Yellow backgrounds indicate third quartile. Orange backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.
Scholar surveys of diversity and racism
2019 Tillery–Greer
In May 2019, Alvin Tillery of the Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy at Northwestern University and Christina Greer of Fordham University "conducted a poll of 113 academic researchers and asked them to rate the 14 modern presidents on both their overall leadership and rhetoric on diversity and inclusion using a scale ranging from 0 to 100." Survey respondents were significantly more liberal than the national average, "with only 13 percent of the respondents describing themselves as either moderate, slightly conservative, or conservative."
<table><thead><tr><th>Rank</th><th>Overall (performance + diversity and inclusion score)</th><th>Diversity and inclusion leadership score only</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>Franklin D. Roosevelt (83/100)</td><td>Barack Obama (75/100)</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Barack Obama (77/100)</td><td>Bill Clinton (54/100)</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Lyndon B. Johnson (69/100)</td><td>Jimmy Carter (43/100)</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Bill Clinton (62/100)</td><td>George W. Bush (41/100)</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>John F. Kennedy (61/100)</td><td>Lyndon B. Johnson (40/100)</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Harry S. Truman (57/100)</td><td>George H. W. Bush (34/100)</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Dwight D. Eisenhower (54.4/100)</td><td>Franklin D. Roosevelt (31/100)</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Ronald Reagan (54.1/100)</td><td>Gerald Ford (30/100)</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Jimmy Carter (50/100)</td><td>John F. Kennedy (28.4/100)</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>George H. W. Bush (49/100)</td><td>Harry S. Truman (28/100)</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Gerald Ford (39/100)</td><td>Ronald Reagan (27.8/100)</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>George W. Bush (38/100)</td><td>Dwight D. Eisenhower (26/100)</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Richard Nixon (32/100)</td><td>Richard Nixon (24/100)</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>Donald Trump (11/100)</td><td>Donald Trump (9/100)</td></tr></tbody></table>
Public opinion polls
2010 Gallup poll
A Gallup poll taken on November 19–21, 2010, asked 1,037 Americans to say, based on what they know or remember about the nine most recent former presidents, whether they approve or disapprove of how each handled his job in office.
• John F. Kennedy (85% approval/10% disapproval) • Ronald Reagan (74% approval/24% disapproval) • Bill Clinton (69% approval/30% disapproval) • George H. W. Bush (64% approval/34% disapproval) • Gerald Ford (61% approval/26% disapproval) • Jimmy Carter (52% approval/42% disapproval) • Lyndon B. Johnson (49% approval/36% disapproval) • George W. Bush (47% approval/51% disapproval) • Richard Nixon (29% approval/65% disapproval)
2011 Gallup poll
A Gallup poll about presidential greatness taken February 2–5, 2011, asked 1,015 American adults the following question: "Who do you regard as the greatest United States president?"
• Ronald Reagan (19%) • Abraham Lincoln (14%) • Bill Clinton (13%) • John F. Kennedy (11%) • George Washington (10%) • Franklin Roosevelt (8%) • Barack Obama (5%) • Theodore Roosevelt (3%) • Harry S. Truman (3%) • George W. Bush (2%) • Thomas Jefferson (2%) • Jimmy Carter (1%) • Dwight Eisenhower (1%) • George H. W. Bush (1%) • Andrew Jackson (<0.5%) • Lyndon B. Johnson (<0.5%) • Richard Nixon (<0.5%)
In addition, "Other" received 1%, "None" received 1% and "No opinion" received 5%.
2011 Vision Critical/Angus Reid Public Opinion poll
A Vision Critical/Angus Reid Public Opinion poll taken on February 18–19, 2011, asked 1,010 respondents about 11 former presidents plus the current president and whether each was a good or bad president.
• John F. Kennedy (80% approval/6% disapproval) • Ronald Reagan (72% approval/16% disapproval) • Bill Clinton (65% approval/24% disapproval) • Dwight D. Eisenhower (61% approval/6% disapproval) • Harry S. Truman (57% approval/7% disapproval) • Jimmy Carter (47% approval/28% disapproval) • George H. W. Bush (44% approval/38% disapproval) • Barack Obama (41% approval/33% disapproval) • Gerald Ford (37% approval/25% disapproval) • Lyndon B. Johnson (33% approval/27% disapproval) • George W. Bush (30% approval/55% disapproval) • Richard Nixon (24% approval/54% disapproval)
2011 Public Policy Polling poll
A Public Policy Polling poll taken between September 8–11, 2011, asked 665 American voters whether they held favorable or unfavorable views of how each of the nine most recent former presidents performed their job.
• John F. Kennedy (74% favorability/15% unfavorability) • Ronald Reagan (60% favorability/30% unfavorability) • Bill Clinton (62% favorability/34% unfavorability) • George H. W. Bush (53% favorability/35% unfavorability) • Gerald Ford (45% favorability/26% unfavorability) • Jimmy Carter (45% favorability/43% unfavorability) • Lyndon B. Johnson (36% favorability/39% unfavorability) • George W. Bush (41% favorability/51% unfavorability) • Richard Nixon (19% favorability/62% unfavorability)
2013 Gallup poll
A Gallup poll taken November 7–10, 2013, asked 1,039 American adults the following question: "How do you think each of the following presidents will go down in history—as an outstanding president, above average, average, below average, or poor?".
<table><thead><tr><th>President</th><th>Outstanding</th><th>Above average</th><th>Average</th><th>Below average</th><th>Poor</th><th>No opinion</th><th>Weighted average</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Dwight D. Eisenhower</td><td>10%</td><td>39%</td><td>36%</td><td>2%</td><td>1%</td><td>12%</td><td>3.63</td></tr><tr><td>John F. Kennedy</td><td>18%</td><td>56%</td><td>19%</td><td>2%</td><td>1%</td><td>4%</td><td>3.92</td></tr><tr><td>Lyndon B. Johnson</td><td>4%</td><td>16%</td><td>46%</td><td>14%</td><td>8%</td><td>12%</td><td>2.93</td></tr><tr><td>Richard Nixon</td><td>2%</td><td>13%</td><td>27%</td><td>29%</td><td>23%</td><td>6%</td><td>2.38</td></tr><tr><td>Gerald Ford</td><td>2%</td><td>14%</td><td>56%</td><td>15%</td><td>5%</td><td>8%</td><td>2.92</td></tr><tr><td>Jimmy Carter</td><td>4%</td><td>19%</td><td>37%</td><td>20%</td><td>15%</td><td>6%</td><td>2.76</td></tr><tr><td>Ronald Reagan</td><td>19%</td><td>42%</td><td>27%</td><td>6%</td><td>4%</td><td>2%</td><td>3.67</td></tr><tr><td>George H. W. Bush</td><td>3%</td><td>24%</td><td>48%</td><td>12%</td><td>10%</td><td>2%</td><td>2.98</td></tr><tr><td>Bill Clinton</td><td>11%</td><td>44%</td><td>29%</td><td>9%</td><td>6%</td><td>1%</td><td>3.45</td></tr><tr><td>George W. Bush</td><td>3%</td><td>18%</td><td>36%</td><td>20%</td><td>23%</td><td>1%</td><td>2.58</td></tr><tr><td>Barack Obama</td><td>6%</td><td>22%</td><td>31%</td><td>18%</td><td>22%</td><td>1%</td><td>2.72</td></tr></tbody></table>
2014 Quinnipiac poll
A Quinnipiac University poll taken June 24–30, 2014, asked 1,446 American registered voters who they believed were the best and worst presidents since World War II.
2017 Quinnipiac poll
Two and a half years later, a Quinnipiac University poll taken January 20–25, 2017, asked 1,190 American voters who they believed were the best and worst presidents since World War II.
2017 Morning Consult poll
Including President Donald Trump for the first time, a Morning Consult poll taken February 9–10, 2017, asked 1,791 American registered voters who they believed were the best and worst presidents since World War II.
2018 Quinnipiac poll
A Quinnipiac University poll taken March 3–5, 2018, asked 1,122 American voters who they believed were the best and worst presidents since World War II.
2021 Gallup poll
A Gallup poll taken January 4–15, 2021, asked 1,023 American adults the following question: "How do you think each of the following presidents will go down in history—as an outstanding president, above average, average, below average, or poor?"
<table><thead><tr><th>President</th><th>Outstanding</th><th>Above average</th><th>Average</th><th>Below average</th><th>Poor</th><th>Weighted average</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>John F. Kennedy</td><td>23%</td><td>47%</td><td>25%</td><td>2%</td><td>1%</td><td>3.83</td></tr><tr><td>Richard Nixon</td><td>4%</td><td>7%</td><td>26%</td><td>29%</td><td>30%</td><td>2.14</td></tr><tr><td>Jimmy Carter</td><td>6%</td><td>21%</td><td>43%</td><td>14%</td><td>10%</td><td>2.81</td></tr><tr><td>Ronald Reagan</td><td>17%</td><td>35%</td><td>30%</td><td>10%</td><td>6%</td><td>3.41</td></tr><tr><td>George H. W. Bush</td><td>7%</td><td>21%</td><td>53%</td><td>11%</td><td>6%</td><td>3.06</td></tr><tr><td>Bill Clinton</td><td>10%</td><td>26%</td><td>37%</td><td>16%</td><td>11%</td><td>3.08</td></tr><tr><td>George W. Bush</td><td>6%</td><td>18%</td><td>49%</td><td>16%</td><td>10%</td><td>2.91</td></tr><tr><td>Barack Obama</td><td>21%</td><td>35%</td><td>22%</td><td>11%</td><td>12%</td><td>3.45</td></tr><tr><td>Donald Trump</td><td>9%</td><td>20%</td><td>10%</td><td>14%</td><td>47%</td><td>2.30</td></tr></tbody></table>
2023 YouGov survey
YouGov took a survey of 1,000 U.S. adult citizens between November 20–27, 2023. Respondents were asked: "How would you rate the president listed below?" There was a margin of error of 4.1% in the poll.
<table><thead><tr><th>President</th><th>Outstanding</th><th>Above average</th><th>Average</th><th>Below average</th><th>Poor</th><th>Not sure</th><th>Weighted avg. (excl. "Not sure")</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Lyndon B. Johnson</td><td>3%</td><td>18%</td><td>31%</td><td>10%</td><td>9%</td><td>29%</td><td>2.94</td></tr><tr><td>Richard Nixon</td><td>4%</td><td>13%</td><td>26%</td><td>22%</td><td>20%</td><td>15%</td><td>2.52</td></tr><tr><td>Jimmy Carter</td><td>10%</td><td>23%</td><td>27%</td><td>13%</td><td>13%</td><td>13%</td><td>3.01</td></tr><tr><td>Ronald Reagan</td><td>24%</td><td>23%</td><td>20%</td><td>11%</td><td>10%</td><td>12%</td><td>3.45</td></tr><tr><td>George H. W. Bush</td><td>4%</td><td>19%</td><td>40%</td><td>15%</td><td>10%</td><td>12%</td><td>2.91</td></tr><tr><td>Bill Clinton</td><td>9%</td><td>23%</td><td>32%</td><td>17%</td><td>10%</td><td>9%</td><td>3.04</td></tr><tr><td>George W. Bush</td><td>4%</td><td>17%</td><td>38%</td><td>20%</td><td>13%</td><td>8%</td><td>2.77</td></tr><tr><td>Barack Obama</td><td>19%</td><td>21%</td><td>18%</td><td>13%</td><td>23%</td><td>5%</td><td>2.97</td></tr><tr><td>Donald Trump</td><td>20%</td><td>17%</td><td>11%</td><td>9%</td><td>38%</td><td>4%</td><td>2.68</td></tr><tr><td>Joe Biden</td><td>9%</td><td>13%</td><td>22%</td><td>11%</td><td>40%</td><td>5%</td><td>2.37</td></tr></tbody></table>
2024 Gallup poll
A Gallup poll taken December 2–18, 2024, asked the following question: "How do you think each of the following presidents will go down in history—as an outstanding president, above average, average, below average, or poor?"
<table><thead><tr><th>President</th><th>Outstanding</th><th>Above average</th><th>Average</th><th>Below average</th><th>Poor</th><th>Weighted average</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>John F. Kennedy</td><td>22%</td><td>48%</td><td>24%</td><td>1%</td><td>1%</td><td>3.77</td></tr><tr><td>Richard Nixon</td><td>4%</td><td>8%</td><td>28%</td><td>24%</td><td>30%</td><td>2.14</td></tr><tr><td>Jimmy Carter</td><td>10%</td><td>22%</td><td>36%</td><td>11%</td><td>15%</td><td>2.83</td></tr><tr><td>Ronald Reagan</td><td>22%</td><td>32%</td><td>27%</td><td>7%</td><td>9%</td><td>3.42</td></tr><tr><td>George H. W. Bush</td><td>7%</td><td>21%</td><td>48%</td><td>13%</td><td>8%</td><td>2.97</td></tr><tr><td>Bill Clinton</td><td>7%</td><td>27%</td><td>36%</td><td>15%</td><td>14%</td><td>2.95</td></tr><tr><td>George W. Bush</td><td>5%</td><td>19%</td><td>42%</td><td>18%</td><td>15%</td><td>2.78</td></tr><tr><td>Barack Obama</td><td>19%</td><td>29%</td><td>25%</td><td>11%</td><td>16%</td><td>3.24</td></tr><tr><td>Donald Trump</td><td>17%</td><td>23%</td><td>16%</td><td>13%</td><td>31%</td><td>2.82</td></tr><tr><td>Joe Biden</td><td>6%</td><td>13%</td><td>26%</td><td>17%</td><td>37%</td><td>2.31</td></tr></tbody></table>
Memorability of the presidents
2014 Roediger–DeSoto survey
In November 2014, Henry L. Roediger III and K. Andrew DeSoto published a study in the journal Science asking research subjects to name as many presidents as possible. They reported data from three generations as well as from an online survey conducted in 2014.
2021 Putnam survey
In July 2021, a survey was taken on the memorability of U.S. presidents by name and facial recognition.
Reception
Historical rankings of presidents of the United States
Gerard Baker, U.S. editor for The Times, wrote in 2008 that "the 42 American presidents fall into a well-established, bell-curve or normal distribution on a chart – a handful of outstanding ones, a handful of duds, and a lot of so-sos. I couldn't, in all honesty therefore, really say that number 13 on the list is that much better than number 30." Political scientist Walter Dean Burnham described "dichotomous or schizoid profiles" of presidents, making some hard to classify in his opinion. Historian Alan Brinkley said "there are presidents who could be considered both failures and great or near great (for example, Wilson, [Lyndon B.] Johnson, Nixon)". Historian and political scientist James MacGregor Burns observed of Nixon: "How can one evaluate such an idiosyncratic president, so brilliant and so morally lacking?"
David Herbert Donald, a noted biographer of Abraham Lincoln, relates that when he met John F. Kennedy in 1961, Kennedy voiced his deep dissatisfaction and resentment with historians who had rated some of his predecessors. Kennedy remarked, "No one has a right to grade a president—even poor James Buchanan—who has not sat in his chair, examined the mail and information that came across his desk, and learned why he made his decisions." Historian and political scientist Julian E. Zelizer has argued that traditional presidential rankings explain little concerning actual presidential history and that they are "weak mechanisms for evaluating what has taken place in the White House." The broadly static nature of the rankings over multiple decades has also been called into question by some critics, particularly given the frequent exposure of previously unknown material about American government. The first British survey, published in 2011, places some small government advocates higher than recent U.S. surveys have: Thomas Jefferson at 4, Ronald Reagan at 8, and Andrew Jackson at 9 (compared to 7th, 10th, and 13th in C-SPAN 2009).
Survey takers
In 2002, Ron Walters, former director of the University of Maryland's African American Leadership Institute, stated that ranking based on the presidents' ability to balance the interests of the majority and those of excluded groups was practical in respect to American debate on racial politics. Presidents have traditionally been ranked on personal qualities and their leadership ability to solve problems that move the nation in a positive direction. Walters stated that there was a qualitative difference between presidential evaluations from white and African-American intellectuals. He gives as an example of this difference a comparison between two contemporary studies, a 1996 New York Times poll by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., where 31 white historians and one black historian ranked presidents as "Great", "Near Great", "High Average", "Average", "Below Average", or "Failure", and a survey performed by professors Hanes Walton Jr. and Robert Smith and featured in their book American Politics and the African American Quest for Universal Freedom, where 44 African-American political scientists and historians ranked presidents as "White Supremacist", "Racist", "Racially Neutral", "Racially Ambivalent", or "Antiracist".
A 2012 analysis by Mark Zachary Taylor faulted presidential surveys with "partisan bias and subjective judgments", suggesting an algorithm to rank of the presidents based on objectively measurable economic statistics. His algorithm placed Franklin D. Roosevelt as the best president for the economy, followed by Warren G. Harding, Rutherford B. Hayes, and William McKinley (all three tied for second). The worst-ranked presidents were Herbert Hoover and Martin Van Buren (tied).
Claims of bias
In 2010, Alvin S. Felzenberg criticized what he sees as a liberal bias in presidential rankings. In particular, he ranked Ronald Reagan in third place, substantially higher than averaged rankings. In reviewing his book, Michael Genovese said that "Felzenberg is upset—with some justification—at the liberal bias he sees as so prevalent in the ranking of U.S. presidents by historians and political scientists. To remedy this, he has provided a counter to the liberal bias with a conservative bias. In doing so, he commits all the sins of which he accuses liberals. This book is a mirror image of the work he finds so troubling. ... It is unscientific, impressionistic, and highly subjective." The historically low rankings of Donald Trump during the first year of the first Trump presidency was met with mixed approval given that historical ranking is largely based on long term effects of a president's decision, which could not be reliably assessed in a first year.