At CBS News on September 13, 2022 there is an article by Elisha Fieldstadt titled Presidents ranked from worst to best. Those results came from a June 22, 2022 article about a survey by the Siena College Research Institute (SCRI) titled American Presidents: Greatest and Worst. It was a survey of historians, political scientists, and presidential scholars. I prefer listing results for the 45 of them from best to worst, as follows:
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) #1
Abraham Lincoln (1861-65) #2
George Washington (1789-1797) #3
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) #4
Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) #5
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) #6
Harry Truman (1945-1953) #7
Lyndon Johnson (1963-1969) #8
John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) #9
James Madison (1809-1817) #10
Barrack Obama (2009-2017) #11
James Monroe (1817-1825) #12
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) #13
Bill Clinton (1993-2001) #14
James K. Polk (1845-1849) #15
John Adams (1797-1801) #16
John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) #17
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) #18
Joseph Biden (2021- ) #19
George H. W. Bush (1989-1993) #20
Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) #21
William McKinley (1897-1901 #22
Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) #23
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) #24
William Howard Taft (1909-1913) #25
Grover Cleveland (1885-1889) and (1893-1897) #26
James A. Garfield (1881) #27
Richard Nixon (1969-1974) #28
Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) #29
Gerald Ford (1974-1977) #30
Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) #31
Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) #32
Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885) #33
Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) #34
George W. Bush (2001-2009) #35
Zachary Taylor (1849-1850) #36
Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) #37
Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) #38
John Tyler (1841-1845) #39
William Henry Harrison (1841) #40
Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) #41
Warren G. Harding (1921-1923) #42
Donald J. Trump (2017-2021) #43
James Buchanan (1857-1861) #44
Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) #45
Note that the Top Five are Franklin D. Roosevelt followed by the four sculpted on Mount Rushmore. Also, note the very low ranking for Donald J. Trump at #43 of 45. If you are wondering why there are only 45, that’s because Grover Cleveland served for two nonconsecutive terms as president 22 and 24.
What about the 21 most recent presidents, who served us in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries? They rank as follows (with Trump last):
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) #1 [#1]
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) #4 [#2]
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) #6 [#3]
Harry Truman (1945-1953) #7 [#4]
Lyndon Johnson (1963-1969) #8 [#5]
John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) #9 [#6]
Barrack Obama (2009-2017) #11 [#7]
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) #13 [#8]
Bill Clinton (1993-2001) #14 [#9]
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) #18 [#10]
Joseph Biden (2021- ) #19 [#11]
George H. W. Bush (1989-1993) #20 [#12]
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) #24 [#13]
William Howard Taft (1909-1913) #25 [#14]
Richard Nixon (1969-1974) #28 [#15]
Gerald Ford (1974-1977) #30 [#16]
Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) #32 [#17]
George W. Bush (2001-2009) #35 [#18]
Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) #37 [#19]
Warren G. Harding (1921-1923) #42 [#20]
Donald J. Trump (2017-2021) #43 [#21]
The SCRI has a spreadsheet listing ranks for individual attributes like Integrity and Intelligence. For number 14, integrity, Trump ranked #45 below James Buchanan #41, Andrew Johnson #42, Warren Harding #43, and Richard Nixon #44. And for number 18, Intelligence, Trump also ranked #45 below George W. Bush #41, James Buchanan #42, Warren Harding #43, and Andrew Johnson #44.
Images of Mount Rushmore and Franklin D. Roosevelt (in 1933) both came from Wikimedia Commons.
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