A group of experts have caused controversy with their ranking of presidents Biden and Trump in a list of all 46 presidents of the United States of America from best to worst.
The 2024 Presidential Greatness Project survey concluded that Abraham Lincoln was the greatest president in the US’ history, while Donald Trump was the worst. President Trump was voted as worst ever president the last time the survey was conducted in 2018 too.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, making his first appearance in the survey, was voted into 14th place with a rating of 62.7/100 which is higher than Barack Obama’s first rating in 2015 (58.2) and dramatically higher than Trump’s first rating in 2018 (13.0).
525 scholars representing a wide range of academic disciplines were invited to complete the online survey, and 191 surveys were completed between November 15 – December 31, 2023.
“Scholars often emphasize stability of norms in assessing presidential greatness, so Joe Biden, serving after a tumultuous Trump administration, entered the survey on a high note,” said co-directors of the Presidential Greatness Project, University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus.
As mentioned, Lincoln was rated the greatest president with an average score of 93.9/100. He was followed by Franklin D Roosevelt (90.8), George Washington (90.3), Theodore Roosevelt (78.6), Thomas Jefferson (77.5), Harry Truman (75.3), Obama (73.8), Dwight Eisenhower (73.7), Lyndon Johnson (72.9) and John F Kennedy (68.4).
Meanwhile, Trump was again the lowest-ranked president (10.9) with James Buchanan (16.7), Andrew Johnson (21.6), Franklin Pierce (24.6) and William Henry Harrison (26.1) rounding out the bottom five.
Other recent presidents placed well, with democrats faring better than their republican counterparts. Bill Clinton was highest in 12th place, ahead of Ronald Reagan (16th), George H.W. Bush (19th) and George W. Bush (32nd).
Franklin D Roosevelt (65.4%) was the top choice for which president should be put on Mount Rushmore next, followed by Obama (11%) and Eisenhower, Kennedy and James Madison (4%).
