Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Frank and Teddy Roosevelt are ranked the top four U.S presidents. While Trump the 45th President, has been rated the worst U.S president. Experts were asked to rank each president on a scale from zero – worst – to 100 – best – based on their overall performance in office. Their rankings showed that Trump came last with an average of 12.34.
Coming in first place, according to the survey, is Abraham Lincoln, who scored an average of 95.03 between both Democrats and Republicans surveyed, while George Washington got a rating of 92.59. Just over 57 per cent of those polled identified as Democrats, while 13 per cent were Republicans and 27 per cent were Independents.
The top seven presidents that have remained the same since the poll was last conducted in 2014 are Lincoln, Washington, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Harry Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. In the latest round of survey, former president Barack Obama moved up in the rankings to 8th best president, compared to 18th he ranked in the 2014 survey. Even Republican respondents rated Trump as the fourth worst president – 40th of 44th, while they placed Obama as the 16th.
Ronald Reagan, who also moved up from his previous ranking, trailed behind Obama in 9th place. Bearing in mind that this was Trump’s first year in office, the survey takers asked respondents to grade him on an A-F scale. He was graded on the subjects: his presidency overall, legislative accomplishments, foreign policy leadership, embodying institutional norms, and communicating with the public. Overall, scholars gave him failing grades – three Fs and two Ds – while he scored highest on communicating with the public and lowest on embodying institutional norms. However, self-identifying Republicans graded the 45th president higher – three Ds and two Cs. The higher marks awarded Trump were in communicating with the public and foreign policy leadership. Trump was rated worse than President Richard Nixon, who quit under pressure from the Watergate scandal, ranking as 33rd. Trump was also rated below William Henry Harrison who died after only a month in office – from March 4, 1841 to April 4, 1841. Even Warren Harding, whose presidency was afflicted by the Teapot Dome corruption.