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Historical Rankings of United States Presidents

 
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Historical rankings of United States Presidents
 
 
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In political science
Political science

Political science is a social science concerned with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior....
, historical rankings of United States Presidents are surveys conducted in order to construct rankings of the success of individuals who have served as President of the United States
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historian
Historian

A historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, systematic narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time....
s and political scientists or popular opinion. The rankings focus on the presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults (such as corruption).

lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m4185519",this)' onMouseout='hide("m4185519")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/George_Washington">George Washington
George Washington

George Washington was the leader of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States of the United States of Americas ....
, Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery....
, and Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , often referred to by his initials FDR, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
 are consistently ranked at the top of the lists.






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In political science
Political science

Political science is a social science concerned with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior....
, historical rankings of United States Presidents are surveys conducted in order to construct rankings of the success of individuals who have served as President of the United States
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historian
Historian

A historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, systematic narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time....
s and political scientists or popular opinion. The rankings focus on the presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults (such as corruption).

General findings

George Washington
George Washington

George Washington was the leader of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States of the United States of Americas ....
, Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery....
, and Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , often referred to by his initials FDR, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
 are consistently ranked at the top of the lists. Often ranked just below those three are Presidents Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States....
 and Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt , also known as T.R., and to the public as Teddy, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
. The remaining top 10 ranks are often rounded out by James Madison
James Madison

James Madison was an American politician and political philosopher who served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States....
, Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . He was List of governors of Florida of Florida , commander of the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans , and eponym of the era of Jacksonian democracy....
, Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. A devout Presbyterianism and leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913....
, Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . As the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States, he succeeded Franklin D....
 and Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David ?Ike? Eisenhower was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a General of the Army in the United States Army....
. Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California . Born in Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s, where he was an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild , and a spokesman for General Electric ....
 and John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
 tend to score highly in popular opinion polls, but rank highly less often in polls of historians. The bottom ranks often include Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857, an Politics of the United States and lawyer....
, Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding

Warren Gamaliel Harding was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death from a heart attack or stroke, in 1923....
, and James Buchanan
James Buchanan

James Buchanan, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the last to be born in the 18th century....
. Two presidents, William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was an Military history of the United States and Politics of the United States, the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, and the first president to die in office....
 and James A. Garfield, died shortly after entering office, and are sometimes not included in the rankings.

Exceptions

Some presidents present special problems because their foreign policy success or failure stands in contradiction to their domestic policy failure or success. Political scientist Walter Dean Burnham
Walter Dean Burnham

Walter Dean Burnham is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Texas at Austin, where he held the Frank Erwin Centennial Chair in Government....
 noted the "dichotomous or schizoid profiles." Historian Alan Brinkley
Alan Brinkley

Alan Brinkley is the Allan Nevins Professor of History at Columbia University, where he was also Provost from 2003-2008. He is a historian of the New Deal....
 said, "There are presidents who could be considered both failures and great or near great (for example, Nixon
Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the only president to resign the office....
)". James MacGregor Burns observed of Nixon, "How can one evaluate such an idiosyncratic president, so brilliant and so morally lacking?"

Notable scholar surveys

President Andrew Johnson Standing
The 1948 poll was conducted by historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr.

Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Sr. was an American historian. His son, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. was also a noted historian.Schlesinger pioneered the new social history and women's history....
 of Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
. The 1962 survey was also conducted by Schlesinger, who surveyed 75 historians; the results of this survey are given in the book The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents by William A. Degregorio. Schlesinger's son Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. conducted another poll in 1996, not currently on the chart below.

The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents also gives the results of the 1982 survey, a poll of 49 historians conducted by the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune

"The Trib" redirects here. For other newspapers with similar names, see Tribune The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company....
. A notable difference from the 1962 Schlesinger poll was the ranking of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David ?Ike? Eisenhower was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a General of the Army in the United States Army....
, who was ranked #22 in 1962, but was ranked #9 in the 1982 survey.

The Siena Research Institute of Siena College
Siena College

Siena College is an independent Catholicism Liberal Arts College located in Loudonville, New York. Siena is a four-year, coeducational, independent college in the Franciscan tradition, founded by the Franciscan Friars in 1937....
 conducted surveys in 1982, 1990, 1994, and 2002. The 1994 survey placed only two Presidents, Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery....
, above 80 points, and placed two Presidents, Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , succeeding to the Presidency upon Abraham Lincoln assassination of Abraham Lincoln....
 and Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding

Warren Gamaliel Harding was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death from a heart attack or stroke, in 1923....
, below 50 points.

The 1996 column shows the results from a poll conducted from 1989 to 1996 by William J. Ridings, Jr. and Stuart B. McIver, and published in the book Rating the Presidents: A Ranking of U.S. leaders, from the Great and Honorable to the Dishonest and Incompetent. More than 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
Female

Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces mobile ovum . The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male....
 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, character & integrity), and the results were tabulated to create the overall ranking.

A 2000 survey by The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is an English language international daily newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company in New York, New York with Asian and European editions....
 consisted of an "ideologically balanced group of 132 prominent professors of history, law, and political science". This poll sought to include an equal number of liberal
Political liberalism

Political liberalism or constitutional liberalism is a body of thought that attempts to provide justification for the principles of limited government, including most or all of the following: restrictions against arbitrary use of power, constitutional definition of legitimate government power, the rule of law, government that exists by...
s and conservatives in the survey, as the editors argued that previous polls were dominated by either one group or the other, but never balanced. According to the editors, this poll included responses from more women, minorities, and young professors than the 1996 Schlesinger poll. The editors noted that the results of their poll were "remarkably similar" to the 1996 Schlesinger poll, with the main difference in the 2000 poll being the lower rankings for the 1960s presidents Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States ....
 and John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
, and higher ranking of President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California . Born in Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s, where he was an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild , and a spokesman for General Electric ....
 at #8. Franklin Roosevelt still ranked in the top three.

Another presidential poll was conducted by The Wall Street Journal in 2005, with James Lindgren
James Lindgren

James Lindgren is a professor of law at Northwestern University. Born in 1952 in Rockford, Illinois, Lindgren graduated from Yale College and the University of Chicago Law School , where he was an editor of the University of Chicago Law Review....
 of Northwestern University Law School for the Federalist Society
Federalist Society

The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, most frequently called simply the Federalist Society, is an organization of conservatives and libertarians seeking reform of the current Law of the United States in accordance with an Originalism....
. 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." Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , often referred to by his initials FDR, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
 still ranked in the top-three, but editor James Taranto
James Taranto

James Taranto is a Manhattan-based columnist for The Wall Street Journal and editor of its online editorial page, OpinionJournal.com. He is best known for his daily online column, entitled Best of the Web Today, in which he links to and comments on news stories and Web sites submitted by readers....
 noted that Democratic-leaning scholars rated George W. Bush
George W. Bush

George Walker Bush served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was the 46th List of Governors of Texas from 1995 to 2000 before being United States presidential inauguration as President on January 20, 2001....
 the sixth-worst president of all time, while Republican scholars rated him the sixth-best, giving him a split-decision rating of "average".

A 2006 Siena College
Siena College

Siena College is an independent Catholicism Liberal Arts College located in Loudonville, New York. Siena is a four-year, coeducational, independent college in the Franciscan tradition, founded by the Franciscan Friars in 1937....
 poll of 744 professors reported the following results:
  • "George W. Bush has just finished five years as President. If today were the last day of his presidency, how would you rank him? The responses were: Great: 2%; Near Great: 5%; Average: 11%; Below Average: 24%; Failure: 58%."
  • "In your judgment, do you think he has a realistic chance of improving his rating?” Two-thirds (67%) responded no; less than a quarter (23%) responded yes; and 10% chose no opinion or not applicable."
Thomas Kelly, professor emeritus of American studies at Siena College, said: "President Bush would seem to have small hope for high marks from the current generation of practicing historians and political scientists. In this case, current public opinion polls actually seem to cut the President more slack than the experts do." Dr. Douglas Lonnstrom, Siena College professor of statistics and director of the Siena Research Institute, stated: "In our 2002 presidential rating, with a group of experts comparable to this current poll, President Bush ranked 23rd of 42 presidents. That was shortly after 9/11. Clearly, the professors do not think things have gone well for him in the past few years. These are the experts that teach college students today and will write the history of this era tomorrow."

The C-SPAN
C-SPAN

C-SPAN is an United States cable television Television network dedicated to airing non-stop coverage of government proceedings and public affairs programming....
 Survey of Presidential Leadership consists of rankings from a group of presidential historians and "professional observers of the presidency" who ranked presidents in a number of categories initially in 2000 and more recently in 2009. With some minor variation, both surveys found that historians consider Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery....
, George Washington
George Washington

George Washington was the leader of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States of the United States of Americas ....
, and Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , often referred to by his initials FDR, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
 the three best presidents by a wide margin and William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was an Military history of the United States and Politics of the United States, the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, and the first president to die in office....
, Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , succeeding to the Presidency upon Abraham Lincoln assassination of Abraham Lincoln....
, Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857, an Politics of the United States and lawyer....
, and James Buchanan
James Buchanan

James Buchanan, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the last to be born in the 18th century....
 the worst.

Scholar survey results


Green backgrounds indicate top quartile. Red backgrounds indicate bottom quartile. (This is if the number of presidents is divisible by 4. If there are 4n+2 or 4n+3 presidents, then n+1 presidents are marked green but only n are marked red.)

Chronological order President Schlesinger 1948 poll rank Schlesinger 1962 poll rank 1982 Murray-Blessing survey of 846 historians Chicago Tribune 1982 poll rank Siena 1982 poll rank Siena 1990 poll rank Siena 1994 poll rank Ridings- McIver 1996 poll rank CSPAN 1999 poll rank Wall Street Journal 2000 poll rank Siena 2002 poll rank Wall Street Journal 2005 poll rank CSPAN 2009 poll rank
01 George Washington
George Washington

George Washington was the leader of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States of the United States of Americas ....
 		 02 02 03 03 04 04 04 03 03 01 04 01 02
02 John Adams
John Adams

John Adams was an Politics of the United States and the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , after being the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States for two terms....
 		 09 10 09 14 (tie) 10 14 12 14 16 13 12 13 17
03 Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States....
 		 05 05 04 05 02 03 05 04 07 04 05 04 07
04 James Madison
James Madison

James Madison was an American politician and political philosopher who served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States....
 		 14 12 14 17 09 08 09 10 18 15 09 17 20
05 James Monroe
James Monroe

James Monroe was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . His administration was marked by the acquisition of Florida ; the Missouri Compromise , in which Missouri was declared a slave state; the admission of Maine in 1820 as a free state; and the profession of the Monroe Doctrine , declaring U.S....
 		 12 18 15 16 15 11 15 13 14 16 08 16 14
06 John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams was an Foreign relations of the United States and Politics of the United States who served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from March 4, 1825 to March 4, 1829....
 		 11 13 16 19 17 16 17 18 19 20 17 25 19
07 Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . He was List of governors of Florida of Florida , commander of the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans , and eponym of the era of Jacksonian democracy....
 		 06 06 07 06 13 09 11 08 13 06 13 10 13
08 Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1837 to 1841. Before his presidency, he served as the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States and the 10th United States Secretary of State under Andrew Jackson....
 		 15 17 20 18 21 21 22 21 30 23 24 27 31
09 William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was an Military history of the United States and Politics of the United States, the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, and the first president to die in office....
 		 –  –  – 38 26 35 28 35 37  – 36  – 39
10 John Tyler
John Tyler

John Tyler, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the first ever to obtain that office via presidential succession....
 		 22 25 28 29 34 33 34 34 36 34 37 35 35
11 James K. Polk
James K. Polk

James Knox Polk was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1845 to March 4, 1849. He was 49 years old at the time of his inauguration, making him the youngest President up to that time....
 		 10 08 12 11 12 13 14 11 12 10 11 09 12
12 Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor was an Military of the United States and the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States.Known as "Old Rough and Ready", Taylor had a 40-year military career in the United States Army, serving in the War of 1812, Black Hawk War, and Seminole Wars before achieving fame leading U.S....
 		 25 24 27 28 29 34 33 29 28 31 34 33 29
13 Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1850 until 1853, and the last member of the Whig Party to hold that office....
 		 24 26 29 31 32 32 35 36 35 35 38 36 37
14 Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857, an Politics of the United States and lawyer....
 		 27 28 31 35 35 36 37 37 39 37 39 38 40
15 James Buchanan
James Buchanan

James Buchanan, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the last to be born in the 18th century....
 		 26 29 33 36 37 38 39 40 41 39 41 40 42
16 Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery....
 		 01 01 01 01 03 02 02 01 01 02 02 02 01
17 Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , succeeding to the Presidency upon Abraham Lincoln assassination of Abraham Lincoln....
 		 19 23 32 32 38 39 40 39 40 36 42 37 41
18 Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant, born Hiram Ulysses Grant , was an United States general and the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States ....
 		 28 30 35 30 36 37 38 38 33 32 35 29 23
19 Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was an Politics of the United States, Law of the United States, Military of the United States and the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States ....
 		 13 14 22 22 22 23 24 25 26 22 27 24 33
20 James Garfield
James Garfield

James Abram Garfield was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. James A. Garfield assassination, two months after being shot and six months after his inauguration, made his tenure the second shortest in United States history....
 		 –  –  – 33 25 30 26 30 29  – 33  – 28
21 Chester A. Arthur
Chester A. Arthur

Chester Alan Arthur was an Politics of the United States who served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
 		 17 21 26 24 24 26 27 28 32 26 30 26 32
22, 24 Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland

Stephen Grover Cleveland was both the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. Cleveland is the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents....
 		 08 11 17 13 18 17 19 16 17 12 20 12 21
23 Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving one term from 1889 to 1893. Harrison was born in North Bend, Ohio, and at age 21 moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he became a prominent state politician....
 		 21 20 23 25 31 29 30 31 31 27 32 30 30
25 William McKinley
William McKinley

William McKinley, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected....
 		 18 15 18 10 19 19 18 17 15 14 19 14 16
26 Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt , also known as T.R., and to the public as Teddy, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
 		 07 07 05 04 05 05 03 05 04 05 03 05 04
27 William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, the tenth Chief Justice of the United States, a leader of the progressive conservative wing of the History of the United States Republican Party in the early 20th century, a pioneer in international arbitration and staunch advocate of world pe...
 		 16 16 19 20 20 20 21 20 24 19 21 20 24
28 Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. A devout Presbyterianism and leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913....
 		 04 04 06 07 06 06 06 06 06 11 06 11 09
29 Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding

Warren Gamaliel Harding was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death from a heart attack or stroke, in 1923....
 		 29 31 36 37 39 40 41 41 38 37 40 39 38
30 Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . A Republican Party lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state....
 		 23 27 30 27 30 31 36 33 27 25 29 23 26
31 Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . Besides his political career, Hoover was a professional mining engineer and author....
 		 20 19 21 21 27 28 29 24 34 29 31 31 34
32 Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , often referred to by his initials FDR, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
 		 03 03 02 02 01 01 01 02 02 03 01 03 03
33 Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . As the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States, he succeeded Franklin D....
 		 – 09 08 08 07 07 07 07 05 07 07 07 05
34 Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David ?Ike? Eisenhower was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a General of the Army in the United States Army....
 		 – 22 11 09 11 12 08 09 09 09 10 08 08
35 John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
 		 –  – 13 14 (tie) 08 10 10 15 08 18 14 15 06
36 Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States ....
 		 –  – 10 12 14 15 13 12 11 17 15 19 11
37 Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the only president to resign the office....
 		 –  – 34 34 28 25 23 32 25 33 26 32 27
38 Gerald R. Ford  –  – 24 23 23 27 32 27 23 28 28 28 22
39 Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize....
 		 –  – 25 26 33 24 25 19 22 30 25 34 25
40 Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California . Born in Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s, where he was an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild , and a spokesman for General Electric ....
 		 –  –  –  – 16 22 20 26 10 08 16 06 10
41 George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Bush held a variety of political positions prior to his presidency, including Vice President of the United States in the administration of Ronald Reagan and Director of Central Intelligence under Gerald R....
 		 –  –  –  –  – 18 31 22 20 21 22 21 18
42 Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the fifteenth Democrat elected to that office....
 		 –  –  –  –  –  – 16 23 21 24 18 22 15
43 George W. Bush
George W. Bush

George Walker Bush served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was the 46th List of Governors of Texas from 1995 to 2000 before being United States presidential inauguration as President on January 20, 2001....
 		 –  –  –  –  –  –  –  –  –  – 23 18 36
44 Barack Obama
Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the List of Presidents of the United States and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office....
 		 –  –  –  –  –  –  –  –  –  –  –  –  –


More than 1,000 people have participated in the surveys. The issue of the validity of the rankings has been of special interest to historians and political scientists, who have tried to specify the relative importance of personality, leadership, issues and partisanship. Quantitative ranking by groups of scholars has been in favor in recent decades, displacing the traditional methods of evaluation by individual writers as typified by Bailey (1966) and most biographers.

Because Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland

Stephen Grover Cleveland was both the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. Cleveland is the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents....
 served two non-consecutive terms as both the 22nd and 24th President, the total number of Presidents in each poll is at least one less than the number of the most recently serving President in the poll. Because of their short time in office, Presidents William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was an Military history of the United States and Politics of the United States, the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, and the first president to die in office....
 and James Garfield
James Garfield

James Abram Garfield was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. James A. Garfield assassination, two months after being shot and six months after his inauguration, made his tenure the second shortest in United States history....
 are sometimes omitted from these polls.

Liberal and conservative raters

The Murray-Blessing 1982 survey asked historians whether they were liberal or conservative on domestic, social and economic issues. The table below shows that 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 (and were split over the inclusion of either Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States ....
 or Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David ?Ike? Eisenhower was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a General of the Army in the United States Army....
), and six of the worst seven (split over Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize....
 or Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . A Republican Party lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state....
). Conservatives placed Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major party contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party . It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world....
 Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . As the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States, he succeeded Franklin D....
 at a higher ranking.

 Rankings by Liberals and Conservatives
Rank Liberals (n=190) Conservatives (n=50)
1 Lincoln Lincoln
2 Franklin Roosevelt Washington
3 Washington Franklin Roosevelt
4 Jefferson Jefferson
5 Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt
6 Wilson Jackson
7 Jackson Truman
8 Truman Wilson
9 Lyndon Johnson Eisenhower
10 John Adams John Adams
...
30 Coolidge Carter
31 Pierce Nixon
32 Buchanan Pierce
33 Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson
34 Grant Buchanan
35 Nixon Grant
36 Harding Harding


Popular opinion


ABC poll

An ABC News poll about presidential greatness, taken 16–20 February 2000, asked 1012 adults nationwide, "Who do you think was the greatest American president?"
  1. Abraham Lincoln (19%)
  2. John F. Kennedy (17%)
  3. Franklin Roosevelt (11%)
  4. No opinion (10%)
  5. Ronald Reagan (9%)
  6. George Washington (8%)
  7. Bill Clinton (7%)
  8. Theodore Roosevelt (4%)
  9. George H.W. Bush (4%)
  10. Thomas Jefferson (3%)
  11. Harry Truman (2%)
  12. Richard Nixon (2%)
  13. Jimmy Carter (1%)
  14. Dwight Eisenhower (1%)


Rasmussen Reports poll

A Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports

Rasmussen Reports is an United States public opinion opinion poll firm. Founded by pollster Scott Rasmussen, co-founder of ESPN, the company updates its President's job approval rating daily other indexes, and provides public opinion data, analysis, and commentary, along with coverage of business, economic, and lifestyle issues....
 poll taken June 13–24 of 2007 asked 1,000 randomly selected adults to rate America's presidents. Six presidents were rated favorably by at least 80% of respondents. They were George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy. Twenty presidents were viewed favorably by at least 50% of respondents.

Only two presidents were viewed unfavorably by at least 50% of respondents. They were Richard Nixon and George W. Bush.

Favorably-viewed Presidents
  1. George Washington (94% favorable)
  2. Abraham Lincoln (92% favorable)
  3. Thomas Jefferson (89% favorable)
  4. Theodore Roosevelt (84% favorable)
  5. Franklin D. Roosevelt (81% favorable)
  6. John F. Kennedy (80% favorable)
  7. John Adams (74% favorable)
  8. James Madison (73% favorable)
  9. Ronald Reagan (72% favorable)
  10. Dwight Eisenhower (72% favorable)
  11. Harry Truman (70% favorable)
  12. Andrew Jackson (69% favorable)
  13. Gerald Ford (62% favorable)
  14. John Quincy Adams (59% favorable)
  15. Ulysses S. Grant (58% favorable)
  16. Jimmy Carter (57% favorable)
  17. William Taft (57% favorable)
  18. George H.W. Bush (57% favorable)
  19. Woodrow Wilson (56% favorable)
  20. Bill Clinton (55% favorable)


Unfavorably-viewed Presidents
  1. George W. Bush (66% unfavorable)
  2. Richard Nixon (60% unfavorable)


Washington College poll

A Washington College
Washington College

Washington College is a private, independent Liberal arts colleges in the United States located on a 112 acre campus in Chestertown, Maryland, on the Maryland Eastern Shore....
 poll about presidential greatness, taken 11 February 2005, asked 800 adults nationwide, "Thinking about all the presidents of the United States throughout history to the present, who would you say was America's greatest president?"

  1. Abraham Lincoln (20%)
  2. Ronald Reagan (15%)
  3. Franklin D. Roosevelt (12%)
  4. John F. Kennedy (11%)
  5. Bill Clinton (10%)
  6. Other/Don't Know (9%)
  7. George W. Bush (8%)
  8. George Washington (6%)
  9. Theodore Roosevelt (3%)
  10. Dwight Eisenhower (3%)
  11. Jimmy Carter (2%)
  12. Thomas Jefferson (2%)
  13. Richard Nixon (1%)
  14. John Adams (<1%)
  15. Andrew Jackson (<1%)
  16. Lyndon Johnson (<1%)


Gallup poll

A Gallup poll
Gallup poll

The Gallup Poll is the division of The Gallup Organization that regularly conducts public opinion polls in the United States and more than 140 countries around the world....
 about presidential greatness, taken February 9–11, 2007, asked 1006 adults nationwide, "Who do you regard as the greatest United States president?"

  1. Abraham Lincoln (18%)
  2. Ronald Reagan (16%)
  3. John F. Kennedy (14%)
  4. Bill Clinton (13%)
  5. Franklin Roosevelt (9%)
  6. Other/None/No opinion (8%)
  7. George Washington (7%)
  8. Harry Truman (3%)
  9. George W. Bush (2%)
  10. Theodore Roosevelt (2%)
  11. Dwight Eisenhower (2%)
  12. Thomas Jefferson (2%)
  13. Jimmy Carter (2%)
  14. Gerald Ford (1%)
  15. George H.W. Bush (1%)
  16. Richard Nixon (0%)


Recent president polls

These polls evaluate Presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower and later succession.

Quinnipiac University poll

A Quinnipiac University
Quinnipiac University

Quinnipiac University is a private university, nonsectarian, coeducational university located in Hamden, Connecticut, Connecticut, at the foot of Sleeping Giant ....
 poll, taken May 23–30, 2006, asked 1,534 registered American voters to pick the worst U.S. President of the last 61 years.

"Which of these eleven presidents we have had since World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 would you consider the worst president Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Senior, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush?"

  1. George W. Bush (34%)
  2. Richard Nixon (17%)
  3. Bill Clinton (16%)
  4. Jimmy Carter (13%)
  5. Don't Know/No Answer (5%)
  6. Lyndon Johnson (4%)
  7. George H. W. Bush (3%)
  8. Ronald Reagan (3%)
  9. Gerald Ford (2%)
  10. Harry Truman (1%)
  11. John Kennedy (1%)
  12. Dwight Eisenhower (<1%)


USA Today/Gallup poll

A USA Today
USA Today

'USA TODAY' is a national United States daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Allen Neuharth. The paper has the widest newspaper circulation of any newspaper in the United States , and among English-language broadsheets, it comes second worldwide, behind only the 2.6 million daily paid copies of The Times of...
/Gallup Poll
Gallup poll

The Gallup Poll is the division of The Gallup Organization that regularly conducts public opinion polls in the United States and more than 140 countries around the world....
, taken December 8–10, 2006, asked 1009 adults nationwide, "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?"

 USA Today/Gallup poll 2006
Result George W. Bush Bill Clinton George H.W. Bush Ronald Reagan Jimmy Carter Gerald Ford
1. outstanding 4% 12% 5% 24% 11% 6%
2. above average 15% 33% 27% 40% 27% 17%
3. average 27% 29% 50% 26% 38% 60%
4. below average 25% 15% 10% 6% 13% 9%
5. poor 29% 10% 8% 4% 9% 3%
unsure - - - 1% 3% 5%


See also

  • Historical rankings of British Prime Ministers
    Historical rankings of British Prime Ministers

    Although many surveys have been conducted in order to construct rankings of the success of individuals who have served as President of the United States, until the late 1990s few had been done for Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom....
  • Historical ranking of Australian Prime Ministers
    Historical ranking of Australian Prime Ministers

    Historical Rankings of Australian Prime Ministers are surveys conducted to construct rankings of the success and popularity of the individuals who served as Prime Minister of Australia....


Further reading

  • ? A non quantitative appraisal by leading historian.
  • ? A collection of essays by presidential scholars.
  • ? Contains the results of the 1962 and 1982 surveys.*****
  • ? For Federalist Society surveys.

External links

  • , 2001 column by John Dean
    John Dean

    John Wesley Dean III was White House Counsel to United States of America President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. As White House Counsel, he became deeply involved in events leading up to the Watergate burglaries and the subsequent Watergate scandal cover up, even referred to as "master manipulator of the cover up" by the Fed...