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In political studies, surveys have been conducted in order to construct historical rankings of the success of individuals who have served as President of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists or popular opinion. The rankings focus on the presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults.^[1][2][3]

General findings

Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George Washington are most often listed as the three highest-rated Presidents among historians. The remaining places within the Top 10 are often rounded out by Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Harry S. Truman, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Andrew Jackson, and John F. Kennedy. More recent Presidents such as Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are often rated among the greatest in public opinion polls, but do not always rank as highly among presidential scholars and historians. The bottom 10 often include James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Ulysses S. Grant, Zachary Taylor, and George W. Bush. Because William Henry Harrison (30 days) and James A. Garfield (200 days, incapacitated after 119 days) both died shortly after taking office, they are usually omitted from presidential rankings. Furthermore, Zachary Taylor died after serving as president for only 16 months, but he is usually included. In the case of these three, it is not clear if they received low rankings due to their actions as President, or because each was in office for such a limited time that it is not possible to assess them more thoroughly.

Political scientist Walter Dean Burnham noted the "dichotomous or schizoid profiles" of Presidents, which can make some hard to classify. Historian Alan Brinkley stated that "there are presidents who could be considered both failures and great or near great (for example, 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?"^[4]

Excluded groups ranking approach

In 2002, Ron Walters, former director of the University of Maryland's African American Leadership Institute, stated that Presidents ranked by how each one balanced the interests of majority interests and the interests 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 there was a qualitative difference between white and African American intellectuals in evaluating presidents. In the 1996 New York Times poll by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., 31 white historians and one black historian ranked presidents on differing categories of greatness. In a survey done by professors Hanes Walton Jr. and Robert Smith and in their text book American Politics And The African American Quest For Universal Freedom, 44 African American political scientists and historians ranked Presidents in terms of racial attitudes and racial legislation proposed.^[5] Individual presidents' attitudes, policies and perspectives were historically ranked in five categories: White Supremacist; Racist; Racially Neutral; Racially Ambivalent; Antiracist.^[6]

David H. Donald, 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 said: "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".^[7]

Historian and political scientist Julian E. Zelizer argues 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".^[8]Libertarian political commentator Ivan Eland wrote a book titled Recarving Rushmore (2008; updated 2014) in which he wrote that historians' criteria are poor in their capacity to reflect presidents' actual services to the country. In the book, Eland chose to rate 40 Presidents on the basis of whether their policies promoted prosperity, liberty and non-interventionism as well as modest executive roles for themselves—his final rankings varied significantly from those of most scholars.

Notable scholar surveys

The 1948 poll was conducted by historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. of Harvard University.^[1] The 1962 survey was also conducted by Schlesinger, who surveyed 75 historians.^[9] Schlesinger's son, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., conducted another poll in 1996.^[10]

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. A notable difference from the 1962 Schlesinger poll was the ranking of Dwight D. Eisenhower, which rose from 22nd in 1962 to 9th in 1982.

The Siena Research Institute of Siena College conducted surveys in 1982, 1990, 1994, 2002 and 2010. The 1994 survey placed only two presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, above 80 points and two presidents, Andrew Johnson and Warren G. Harding, below 50 points.^[11][12] The 2010 Siena survey had George W. Bush plummet from the initial 2002 ranking of 23rd down to 39th.

The 1996 column shows the results from a poll conducted from 1988 to 1996 by William J. Ridings Jr. and Stuart B. McIver and published in Rating The Presidents: A Ranking of U.S. Leaders, from the Great and Honorable to the Dishonest and Incompetent.^[13] 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 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 and crisis management, political skill, appointments and character and integrity) and the results were tabulated to create the overall ranking.

A 2000 survey by The Wall Street Journal 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 liberals and conservatives in the survey as the editors argued that previous polls were dominated by either one group or the other. 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 and John F. Kennedy and higher ranking of President Ronald Reagan at 8th. Franklin D. Roosevelt still ranked in the top three.

Another presidential poll was conducted by The Wall Street Journal in 2005, with James Lindgren of Northwestern University Law School for the Federalist Society.^[14] 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 still ranked in the top three, but editor James Taranto noted 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".

A 2006 Siena College poll of 744 professors reported the following results:^[15]

• "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". 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".^[15]

A 2010 Siena poll of 238 presidential scholars found that former President George W. Bush was ranked 39th out of 43, with poor ratings in handling of the economy, communication, ability to compromise, foreign policy accomplishments and intelligence. Meanwhile, the then-current President Barack Obama was ranked 15th out of 43, with high ratings for imagination, communication ability and intelligence and a low rating for background (family, education and experience).^[16][17]

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 three times: in 2000, 2009 and 2017.^[18][19][20] The most recent survey was of 91 presidential historians, surveyed by C-SPAN's Academic Advisor Team, made up of Douglas G. Brinkley, Edna Greene Medford and Richard Norton Smith. 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—each category is equally weighed.^[21] The results of all three 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 three surveys.^[20]

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".^[22]

In 2011, through the agency of its United States Presidency Centre (USPC), the Institute for the Study of the Americas (located in the University of London's School of Advanced Study) released the first ever United Kingdom academic survey to rate Presidents. 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).^[23]

In 2012, Newsweek magazine 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 Truman, John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama as the best since that year.^[24]

A 2013 History News Network poll of 203 American historians, when asked to rate Obama's presidency on an A–F scale, gave him a B- grade. Obama, whom historians graded using 15 separate measures plus an overall grade, was rated most highly in the categories of communication ability, integrity and crisis management; and most poorly for his relationship with Congress, transparency and accountability.^[25]

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 George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson making the top 10.^[26] APSA conducted a repeat of this poll in 2018, with Donald Trump appearing for the first time, in last position.^[27]

Scholar survey results

Within each column:^[28]

• 
  Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile.


• 
  Green backgrounds indicate second quartile.


• 
  Orange backgrounds indicate third quartile.


• 
  Red backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.

Note: click the "sort" icon at the head of each column to view the rankings for each survey in numerical order.

No.	President	Political party	Schl. 1948[1]	Schl. 1962[9]	M-B 1982	CT 1982	Siena 1982	Siena 1990	Siena 1994	R-McI 1996[13]	Schl. 1996[10]	C-SPAN 2000	WSJ 2000	Siena 2002	WSJ 2005[14]	C-SPAN 2009[29]	Siena 2010[16][17]	USPC 2011[23]	APSA 2015[26]	C-SPAN 2017[30]	APSA 2018[27]	Siena 2018[31]
1	George Washington	Independent	02	02	03	02	04	04	04	03	02 (tie)	03	01	04	01	02	04	03	02	02	02	01
2	John Adams	Federalist	09	10	09	15	10	14	12	14	11	16	13	12	13	17	17	12	15	19	14	14
3	Thomas Jefferson	Democratic-Republican	05	05	04	05	02	03	05	04	04	07	04	05	04	07	05	04	05	07	05	05
4	James Madison	Democratic-Republican	14	12	14	17	09	08	09	10	17	18	15	09	17	20	06	14	13	17	12	07
5	James Monroe	Democratic-Republican	12	18	15	16	15	11	15	13	15	14	16	08	16	14	07	13	16	13	18	08
6	John Quincy Adams	Democratic-Republican	11	13	16	19	17	16	17	18	18	19	20	17	25	19	19	20	22	21	23	18
7	Andrew Jackson	Democratic	06	06	07	07	13	09	11	08	05	13	06	13	10	13	14	09	09	18	15	19
8	Martin Van Buren	Democratic	15	17	20	18	21	21	22	21	21	30	23	24	27	31	23	27	25	34	27	25
9	William Henry Harrison	Whig	–	–	–	–	26	35	28	35	–	37	–	36	–	39	35	–	39	38	42	39
10	John Tyler	Independent[32]	22	25	28	28	34	33	34	34	32	36	34	37	35	35	37	37	36	39	37	37
11	James K. Polk	Democratic	10	08 (tie)	12	10	12	13	14	11	09	12	10	11	09	12	12	16	19	14	20	12
12	Zachary Taylor	Whig	25	24	27	26	29	34	33	29	29	28	31	34	33	29	33	33	33	31	35	30
13	Millard Fillmore	Whig	24	26	29	31	32	32	35	36	31	35	35	38	36	37	38	35	37	37	38	38
14	Franklin Pierce	Democratic	27	28	31	33	35	36	37	37	33 (tie)	39	37 (tie)	39	38	40	40	39	40	41	41	40
15	James Buchanan	Democratic	26	29	33	34	37	38	39	40	38	41	39	41	40	42	42	40	43	43	43	43
16	Abraham Lincoln	Republican	01	01	01	01	03	02	02	01	01	01	02	02	02	01	03	02	01	01	01	03
17	Andrew Johnson	Democratic[33]	19	23	32	30	38	39	40	39	37	40	36	42	37	41	43	36	41	42	40	44
18	Ulysses S. Grant	Republican	28	30	35	32	36	37	38	38	33 (tie)	33	32	35	29	23	26	29	28	22	21	24
19	Rutherford B. Hayes	Republican	13	14	22	22	22	23	24	25	23	26	22	27	24	33	31	30	30	32	29	32
20	James A. Garfield	Republican	–	–	–	–	25	30	26	30	–	29	–	33	–	28	27	–	31	29	34	28
21	Chester A. Arthur	Republican	17	21 (tie)	23	24	24	26	27	28	26	32	26	30	26	32	25	32	32	35	31	34
22/24	Grover Cleveland	Democratic	08	11	17	13	18	17	19	16	13	17	12	20	12	21	20	21	23	23	24	23
23	Benjamin Harrison	Republican	21	20	26	25	31	29	30	31	19	31	27	32	30	30	34	34	29	30	32	35
25	William McKinley	Republican	18	15	18	11	19	19	18	17	16	15	14	19	14	16	21	17	21	16	19	20
26	Theodore Roosevelt	Republican	07	07	05	04	05	05	03	05	06	04	05	03	05	04	02	05	04	04	04	04
27	William Howard Taft	Republican	16	16	19	20	20	20	21	20	22	24	19	21	20	24	24	25	20	24	22	22
28	Woodrow Wilson	Democratic	04	04	06	06	06	06	06	06	07	06	11	06	11	09	08	06	10	11	11	11
29	Warren G. Harding	Republican	29	31	36	36	39	40	41	41	39	38	37 (tie)	40	39	38	41	38	42	40	39	41
30	Calvin Coolidge	Republican	23	27	30	29	30	31	36	33	30	27	25	29	23	26	29	28	27	27	28	31
31	Herbert Hoover	Republican	20	19	21	21	27	28	29	24	33 (tie)	34	29	31	31	34	36	26	38	36	36	36
32	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Democratic	03	03	02	03	01	01	01	02	02 (tie)	02	03	01	03	03	01	01	03	03	03	02
33	Harry S. Truman	Democratic	–	08 (tie)	08	08	07	07	07	07	08	05	07	07	07	05	09	07	06	06	06	09
34	Dwight D. Eisenhower	Republican	–	21 (tie)	11	09	11	12	08	09	10	09	09	10	08	08	10	10	07	05	07	06
35	John F. Kennedy	Democratic	–	–	13	14	08	10	10	15	12	08	18	14	15	06	11	15	14	08	16	10
36	Lyndon B. Johnson	Democratic	–	–	10	12	14	15	13	12	14	10	17	15	18	11	16	11	12	10	10	16
37	Richard Nixon	Republican	–	–	34	35	28	25	23	32	36	25	33	26	32	27	30	23	34	28	33	29
38	Gerald Ford	Republican	–	–	24	23	23	27	32	27	28	23	28	28	28	22	28	24	24	25	25	27
39	Jimmy Carter	Democratic	–	–	25	27	33	24	25	19	27	22	30	25	34	25	32	18	26	26	26	26
40	Ronald Reagan	Republican	–	–	–	–	16 *	22	20	26	25	11	08	16	06	10	18	08	11	09	09	13
41	George H. W. Bush	Republican	–	–	–	–	–	18 *	31	22	24	20	21	22	21	18	22	22	17	20	17	21
42	Bill Clinton	Democratic	–	–	–	–	–	–	16 *	23 *	20 *	21 *	24 *	18	22	15	13	19	08	15	13	15
43	George W. Bush	Republican	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	23 *	19 *	36	39	31	35	33	30	33
44	Barack Obama	Democratic	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	15 *	–	18 *	12	08	17
45	Donald Trump	Republican	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	44 *	42 *
	Total in survey		29	31	36	36	39	40	41	41	39	41	39	42	40	42	43	40	43	43	44	44

Murray-Blessing 1982 survey

The Murray-Blessing 1982 survey asked historians whether they were liberal or conservative on domestic, social and economic issues.^[34] 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 or Dwight D. Eisenhower) and six of the worst seven (split over Jimmy Carter or Calvin Coolidge).

Rankings by liberals and conservatives

Rank	Liberals (n = 190)	Conservatives (n = 50)
1	Abraham Lincoln	Abraham Lincoln
2	Franklin D. Roosevelt	George Washington
3	George Washington	Franklin D. Roosevelt
4	Thomas Jefferson	Thomas Jefferson
5	Theodore Roosevelt	Theodore Roosevelt
6	Woodrow Wilson	Andrew Jackson
7	Andrew Jackson	Harry S. Truman
8	Harry S. Truman	Woodrow Wilson
9	Lyndon B. Johnson	Dwight D. Eisenhower
10	John Adams	John Adams
30	Calvin Coolidge	Jimmy Carter
31	Franklin Pierce	Richard Nixon
32	James Buchanan	Franklin Pierce
33	Andrew Johnson	Andrew Johnson
34	Ulysses S. Grant	James Buchanan
35	Richard Nixon	Ulysses S. Grant
36	Warren G. Harding	Warren G. Harding

Public opinion polls

Rasmussen poll

According to a Rasmussen poll conducted in 2007, six Presidents—George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy—were rated favorably by at least 80% of Americans.^[35]

President	Favorable	Unfavorable	Net favorable
George Washington	94	2	92
Abraham Lincoln	92	4	88
Thomas Jefferson	89	4	85
Theodore Roosevelt	84	8	76
Franklin D. Roosevelt	81	12	69
John F. Kennedy	80	13	67
John Adams	74	9	65
James Madison	73	8	65
Ronald Reagan	72	22	50
Dwight D. Eisenhower	72	15	57
Harry S. Truman	70	14	56
Andrew Jackson	69	14	55
Gerald Ford	62	26	36
John Quincy Adams	59	7	52
Ulysses S. Grant	58	24	34
George H. W. Bush	57	41	16
Jimmy Carter	57	34	23
William Howard Taft	57	15	42
Woodrow Wilson	56	19	37
Bill Clinton	55	41	14
James Monroe	49	10	39
Herbert Hoover	48	34	14
Lyndon B. Johnson	45	42	3
Andrew Johnson	45	26	19
Chester A. Arthur	43	17	26
James A. Garfield	42	16	26
William McKinley	42	24	18
George W. Bush	41	59	−18
Grover Cleveland	40	26	14
Calvin Coolidge	38	31	7
Rutherford B. Hayes	38	19	19
Richard Nixon	32	60	−28
Benjamin Harrison	30	35	−5
Warren G. Harding	29	33	−4
James Buchanan	28	32	−4
James K. Polk	27	21	6
Zachary Taylor	26	18	8
Martin Van Buren	23	19	4
William Henry Harrison	21	16	5
Franklin Pierce	17	25	−8
Millard Fillmore	17	25	−8
John Tyler	9	15	−6

Gallup poll

A Gallup poll about presidential greatness taken February 2–5, 2011, asked 1,015 adults in the United States the following question: "Who do you regard as the greatest United States president?".^[3]

1. Ronald Reagan (19%)


2. Abraham Lincoln (14%)


3. Bill Clinton (13%)


4. John F. Kennedy (11%)


5. George Washington (10%)


6. Franklin Roosevelt (8%)


7. Barack Obama (5%)


8. Theodore Roosevelt (3%)


9. Harry Truman (3%)


10. George W. Bush (2%)


11. Thomas Jefferson (2%)


12. Jimmy Carter (1%)


13. Dwight Eisenhower (1%)


14. George H. W. Bush (1%)


15. Andrew Jackson (<0.5%)


16. Lyndon B. Johnson (<0.5%)


17. Richard Nixon (<0.5%)

In addition, "Other" received 1%, "None" received 1% and "No opinion" received 5%.

Public opinion polls on recent Presidents

These polls evaluate recent Presidents only.

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.^[36]

1. John F. Kennedy (85% approval/10% disapproval)


2. Ronald Reagan (74% approval/24% disapproval)


3. Bill Clinton (69% approval/30% disapproval)


4. George H. W. Bush (64% approval/34% disapproval)


5. Gerald Ford (61% approval/26% disapproval)


6. Jimmy Carter (52% approval/42% disapproval)


7. Lyndon B. Johnson (49% approval/36% disapproval)


8. George W. Bush (47% approval/51% disapproval)


9. Richard Nixon (29% approval/65% disapproval)

Public Policy Polling

A Public Policy Polling poll taken between September 8–11, 2011, asked 665 American voters, based on what they know or remember about the nine most recent former presidents, whether they hold favorable or unfavorable views of how each handled his job in office.^[37]

1. John F. Kennedy (74% favorability/15% unfavorability)


2. Ronald Reagan (60% favorability/30% unfavorability)


3. Bill Clinton (62% favorability/34% unfavorability)


4. George H. W. Bush (53% favorability/35% unfavorability)


5. Gerald Ford (45% favorability/26% unfavorability)


6. Jimmy Carter (45% favorability/43% unfavorability)


7. Lyndon B. Johnson (36% favorability/39% unfavorability)


8. George W. Bush (41% favorability/51% unfavorability)


9. Richard Nixon (19% favorability/62% unfavorability)

Vision Critical/Angus Reid 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.^[38]

1. John F. Kennedy (80% approval/6% disapproval)


2. Ronald Reagan (72% approval/16% disapproval)


3. Bill Clinton (65% approval/24% disapproval)


4. Dwight D. Eisenhower (61% approval/6% disapproval)


5. Harry S. Truman (57% approval/7% disapproval)


6. Jimmy Carter (47% approval/28% disapproval)


7. George H. W. Bush (44% approval/38% disapproval)


8. Barack Obama (41% approval/33% disapproval)


9. Gerald Ford (37% approval/25% disapproval)


10. Lyndon B. Johnson (33% approval/27% disapproval)


11. George W. Bush (30% approval/55% disapproval)


12. Richard Nixon (24% approval/54% disapproval)

2013 Gallup poll

A Gallup poll taken November 7–10, 2013, asked 1,039 adults in the United States 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?".^[39]

Gallup poll 2013

President	Outstanding	Above average	Average	Below average	Poor	No opinion	Weighted average[40]
Dwight D. Eisenhower	10%	39%	36%	2%	1%	12%	3.63
John F. Kennedy	18%	56%	19%	2%	1%	4%	3.92
Lyndon B. Johnson	4%	16%	46%	14%	8%	12%	2.93
Richard Nixon	2%	13%	27%	29%	23%	6%	2.38
Gerald Ford	2%	14%	56%	15%	5%	8%	2.92
Jimmy Carter	4%	19%	37%	20%	15%	6%	2.76
Ronald Reagan	19%	42%	27%	6%	4%	2%	3.67
George H. W. Bush	3%	24%	48%	12%	10%	2%	2.98
Bill Clinton	11%	44%	29%	9%	6%	1%	3.45
George W. Bush	3%	18%	36%	20%	23%	1%	2.58
Barack Obama	6%	22%	31%	18%	22%	1%	2.72

2014 Quinnipiac poll

A Quinnipiac University poll taken June 24–30, 2014, asked 1,446 registered voters in the United States who they thought were the best and worst Presidents since World War II.^[41]

2017 Quinnipiac poll

Four years later, a Quinnipiac University poll taken January 20–25, 2017, asked 1,190 voters in the United States who they thought were the best and worst Presidents since World War II.^[42]

2017 Morning Consult poll

Including for the first time President Donald Trump, a Morning Consult poll taken February 9–10, 2017, asked 1,791 registered voters in the United States, who they thought were the best and worst Presidents since World War II.^[43][44]

2018 Quinnipiac poll

A Quinnipiac University poll taken March 3–5, 2018, asked 1,122 voters in the United States who they thought were the best and worst Presidents since World War II.^[45]

Siena College Research Institute, Presidential Expert Poll of 2010

Abbreviations

Seq.	President	Political party	Bg	PL	CAb	RC	CAp	HE	L	AC	WR	EAp	OA	Im	DA	Int	EAb	FPA	LA	IQ	AM	EV	O
1	George Washington	Independent	7	18	12	3	3	4	1	3	4	1	4	9	4	2	2	3	1	12	1	3	4
2	John Adams	Federalist	4	29	18	26	10	13	23	32	16	15	13	17	22	3	19	12	20	7	15	12	17
3	Thomas Jefferson	Democratic-Republican	1	4	6	4	6	16	6	11	8	5	5	3	6	14	5	7	6	1	6	5	5
4	James Madison	Democratic-Republican	3	10	11	9	7	12	17	7	15	9	6	8	12	5	14	20	17	2	10	8	6
5	James Monroe	Democratic-Republican	9	12	15	8	14	9	9	8	17	8	16	16	8	10	11	2	13	15	7	9	7
6	John Quincy Adams	Democratic-Republican	2	34	20	35	16	14	30	29	23	13	15	11	18	4	21	16	26	5	20	21	19
7	Andrew Jackson	Democratic	30	2	10	14	27	28	4	38	5	19	12	13	14	23	6	19	5	23	12	13	14
8	Martin Van Buren	Democratic	16	13	23	19	24	38	33	13	32	25	24	24	27	29	23	25	27	22	27	24	23
9	William Henry Harrison	Whig	24	30	25	31	33	27	42	35	30	24	37	35	36	30	33	39	24	31	33	34	35
10	John Tyler	Independent[32]	33	42	39	42	39	31	22	39	26	34	35	29	34	33	37	35	36	33	32	36	37
11	James K. Polk	Democratic	17	9	13	12	21	15	7	23	7	16	17	14	11	24	9	8	10	20	9	11	12
12	Zachary Taylor	Whig	37	35	28	37	37	24	36	34	28	28	34	27	37	21	31	34	25	37	25	33	33
13	Millard Fillmore	Whig	40	41	40	38	35	33	25	25	37	35	38	36	35	36	38	33	39	39	30	35	38
14	Franklin Pierce	Democratic	38	37	37	41	40	34	35	36	38	38	39	39	39	38	40	40	40	38	35	40	40
15	James Buchanan	Democratic	23	40	41	40	42	41	40	41	43	39	42	42	43	40	42	41	43	40	41	43	42
16	Abraham Lincoln	Republican	28	6	2	6	4	5	13	1	2	2	1	2	1	1	1	5	2	3	2	1	3
17	Andrew Johnson	National Union[33]	42	43	43	43	43	37	39	43	34	42	41	41	42	37	41	38	42	41	42	42	43
18	Ulysses S. Grant	Republican	26	28	24	22	25	29	21	22	22	40	28	26	26	27	34	24	21	29	31	31	26
19	Rutherford B. Hayes	Republican	29	33	30	29	29	26	19	18	33	33	33	32	33	28	30	30	32	30	24	29	31
20	James A. Garfield	Republican	20	22	22	24	32	23	41	27	31	29	25	28	25	25	26	31	23	26	22	27	27
21	Chester A. Arthur	Republican	41	31	32	27	28	19	14	21	27	26	30	25	20	32	27	26	28	32	17	26	25
22/24	Grover Cleveland	Democratic	19	16	17	15	17	22	20	19	24	18	20	22	17	19	17	21	19	25	14	19	20
23	Benjamin Harrison	Republican	39	32	34	28	30	35	29	30	39	36	36	34	32	31	35	28	34	35	23	32	34
25	William McKinley	Republican	21	14	19	11	23	18	24	20	21	20	21	23	19	22	18	15	18	27	11	20	21
26	Theodore Roosevelt	Republican	6	7	3	5	1	2	2	12	1	4	3	1	2	6	4	4	4	6	3	4	2
27	William Howard Taft	Republican	14	36	29	30	18	20	32	24	36	22	23	30	21	18	25	23	31	18	28	23	24
28	Woodrow Wilson	Democratic	8	8	9	16	8	8	15	37	9	10	8	5	9	11	10	10	12	4	29	10	8
29	Warren G. Harding	Republican	43	38	36	34	36	39	37	26	40	43	43	43	40	42	43	37	41	43	39	41	41
30	Calvin Coolidge	Republican	25	24	38	21	26	30	12	28	41	30	32	37	31	17	28	32	33	28	19	28	29
31	Herbert Hoover	Republican	10	26	31	33	19	43	43	40	42	32	26	38	41	13	29	36	37	14	40	38	36
32	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Democratic	5	1	1	2	2	1	5	2	3	3	2	4	3	16	3	1	3	10	4	2	1
33	Harry S. Truman	Democratic	35	15	14	20	15	6	11	15	6	7	7	15	7	8	8	6	9	17	8	6	9
34	Dwight D. Eisenhower	Republican	12	17	21	10	9	11	8	5	20	17	11	20	13	9	7	9	7	19	5	7	10
35	John F. Kennedy	Democratic	13	19	4	13	12	7	27	6	10	6	14	7	15	35	13	17	11	11	16	14	11
36	Lyndon B. Johnson	Democratic	15	3	16	1	5	10	28	9	12	12	9	12	5	34	12	43	15	21	37	16	16
37	Richard Nixon	Republican	18	20	26	36	38	25	34	33	14	37	22	19	24	43	24	11	29	16	43	37	30
38	Gerald Ford	Republican	27	25	35	17	22	36	31	17	35	23	31	33	30	15	32	27	30	34	26	25	28
39	Jimmy Carter	Democratic	31	39	27	39	20	40	38	31	25	21	29	21	29	7	36	29	35	13	36	30	32
40	Ronald Reagan	Republican	34	5	5	7	31	21	3	14	11	31	19	18	23	26	20	13	8	36	13	17	18
41	George H. W. Bush	Republican	11	27	33	23	34	32	26	16	29	27	27	31	28	20	22	14	22	24	18	22	22
42	Bill Clinton	Democratic	22	11	8	25	11	3	10	4	18	11	10	10	10	41	15	18	14	9	34	15	13
43	George W. Bush	Republican	36	23	42	32	41	42	18	42	19	41	40	40	38	39	39	42	38	42	38	39	39
44	Barack Obama	Democratic	32	21	7	18	13	17	16	10	13	14	18	6	16	12	16	22	16	8	21	18	15
Seq.	President	Political party	Bg	PL	CAb	RC	CAp	HE	L	AC	WR	EAp	OA	Im	DA	Int	EAb	FPA	LA	IQ	AM	EV	O

2017 C-SPAN Presidential Historian Survey

Abbreviations

Seq.	President	Political party	PP	CL	EM	MA	IR	AS	RC	VSA	PEJ	PCT	O
1	George Washington	Independent	4	2	1	1	2	2	2	2	13	1	2
2	John Adams	Federalist	22	17	15	11	13	21	24	20	15	19	19
3	Thomas Jefferson	Democratic-Republican	8	13	13	6	11	7	5	5	17	6	7
4	James Madison	Democratic-Republican	18	19	19	9	22	17	13	18	18	16	17
5	James Monroe	Democratic-Republican	17	14	18	16	7	11	9	14	25	11	13
6	John Quincy Adams	Democratic-Republican	33	23	17	12	15	18	32	15	9	22	21
7	Andrew Jackson	Democratic	7	10	26	20	20	23	21	10	38	13	18
8	Martin Van Buren	Democratic	30	35	40	33	26	26	28	33	30	33	34
9	William Henry Harrison	Whig	28	38	38	31	42	40	38	36	37	38	38
10	John Tyler	Independent[32]	39	36	39	37	28	38	41	37	41	36	39
11	James K. Polk	Democratic	13	9	14	27	16	9	11	11	36	12	14
12	Zachary Taylor	Whig	27	28	28	28	30	35	35	30	34	30	31
13	Millard Fillmore	Whig	40	34	34	36	34	36	36	39	39	37	37
14	Franklin Pierce	Democratic	41	41	41	39	40	39	40	41	42	41	41
15	James Buchanan	Democratic	43	43	42	43	43	41	42	43	43	43	43
16	Abraham Lincoln	Republican	3	1	2	2	3	1	4	1	1	2	1
17	Andrew Johnson	National Union[33]	42	42	37	41	39	43	43	42	40	42	42
18	Ulysses S. Grant	Republican	19	21	27	19	19	37	20	23	10	21	22
19	Rutherford B. Hayes	Republican	29	30	25	32	33	29	30	32	32	28	32
20	James A. Garfield	Republican	21	31	29	22	36	32	27	25	20	27	29
21	Chester A. Arthur	Republican	37	32	31	35	35	28	29	34	27	32	35
22/24	Grover Cleveland	Democratic	20	22	24	26	23	22	22	21	31	23	23
23	Benjamin Harrison	Republican	32	33	32	30	27	30	26	31	24	31	30
25	William McKinley	Republican	16	16	11	18	17	13	10	17	26	18	16
26	Theodore Roosevelt	Republican	2	5	4	5	4	4	7	4	11	4	4
27	William Howard Taft	Republican	31	26	20	25	21	12	23	28	22	24	24
28	Woodrow Wilson	Democratic	11	11	9	8	12	8	16	7	35	10	11
29	Warren G. Harding	Republican	36	39	35	40	37	42	34	40	33	40	40
30	Calvin Coolidge	Republican	24	29	22	21	29	25	18	29	29	26	27
31	Herbert Hoover	Republican	38	40	43	29	31	14	31	38	28	39	36
32	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Democratic	1	3	5	3	1	3	3	3	8	3	3
33	Harry S. Truman	Democratic	14	4	10	10	5	10	14	13	4	5	6
34	Dwight D. Eisenhower	Republican	12	6	6	4	6	5	6	16	12	7	5
35	John F. Kennedy	Democratic	6	7	7	15	14	16	12	9	7	9	8
36	Lyndon B. Johnson	Democratic	15	20	12	24	38	6	1	8	2	14	10
37	Richard Nixon	Republican	26	27	23	42	10	24	37	24	21	34	28
38	Gerald Ford	Republican	34	24	30	23	25	27	19	35	14	25	25
39	Jimmy Carter	Democratic	35	37	33	14	32	31	33	22	5	29	26
40	Ronald Reagan	Republican	5	8	16	13	9	33	8	6	23	8	9
41	George H. W. Bush	Republican	23	12	21	17	8	16	15	27	16	20	20
42	Bill Clinton	Democratic	9	18	3	38	18	20	17	19	6	17	15
43	George W. Bush	Republican	25	25	36	34	41	34	25	26	19	35	33
44	Barack Obama	Democratic	10	15	8	7	24	19	39	12	3	15	12
Seq.	President	Political party	PP	CL	EM	MA	IR	AS	RC	VSA	PEJ	PCT	O

Siena College Research Institute, Presidential Expert Poll of 2018

On February 13, 2019, Siena released its 6th presidential poll.^[48]

Memorability of the Presidents

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.^[49][50] They reported data from three generations as well as from an online survey conducted in 2014. The percentage of participants in the online survey sample who could name each President was the following:

See also

• Historical rankings of Chancellors of Germany


• Historical rankings of Prime Ministers of Australia


• Historical rankings of Prime Ministers of Canada


• Historical rankings of Prime Ministers of the Netherlands


• Historical rankings of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom

References

Further reading

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External links

• 
  "Ranking Presidents: Utter Nonsense Or Useful Analysis?". 2001 column by John Dean.


• 
  "List of presidential rankings". Historians rank the 42 men who have held the office. AP via MSNBC. February 16, 2009, poll.