What would be your ranking of US Presidents?

[taiwan_girl]

(Preface - I think it is somewhat silly to rate presidents until they have not been president for at least 25 years or more. But.......

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24434298-presidential_greatness_white_paper_2024

The 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey was conducted online via Qualtrics from November 15 to December 31, 2023. Respondents included current and recent members of the Presidents & Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, which is the foremost organization of social science experts in presidential politics, as well as scholars who had recently published peer-reviewed academic research in key related scholarly journals or academic presses. 525 respondents were invited to participate, and 154 usable responses were received, yielding a 29.3% response rate.

The results of this ranking are quite similar to the results from our previous surveys (released in 2015 and 2018): Abraham Lincoln again tops the list (95.03 average), followed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt (90.83), George Washington (90.32), Teddy Roosevelt (78.58), Thomas Jefferson (77.53), Harry Truman (75.34), Barack Obama (73.8), and Dwight Eisenhower (73.73). The most notable changes in this ordering are Franklin Delano Roosevelt moving up to #2 from the third spot last year, and Dwight Eisenhower falling back to #8 from #6 last year.

The bottom of the rankings is also relatively stable. Donald Trump rates lowest (10.92), behind James Buchanan (16.71), Andrew Johnson (21.56), Franklin Pierce (24.6), William Henry Harrison (26.01), and Warren Harding (27.76).

(Now, before anybody says anything, President Trump was rated at the bottom even by those who are Republican.)

[Jolly]

Nope.

Also shows a lack of historical knowledge.

[Horace]

I used to like Lincoln, but now it’s like everybody likes Lincoln. For a real aficionado’s president, I lean Garfield these days, or depending on my mood, maybe Harrison. Or McKinley. Biden also has a special place in my heart, next to Trump. I hope they patch things up someday. Life is too short not to be friends. :couplekiss:

[Copper]

There are slave owners on that list.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Horace said in What would be your ranking of US Presidents?:

I used to like Lincoln, but now it’s like everybody likes Lincoln.

It's interesting that some Presidents get named after cars. We've had the obvious Lincoln and Ford, but there's also Carter, and probably some others I'm too lazy to Google. I'm hoping for a President Dodge, or possibly Volkswagen. And who wouldn't vote for somebody named Tesla?

Still, it beats being named after a vacuum cleaner like Herbert Hoover. That would suck. And as for Johnson, what a dick move that was.

[Klaus]

Isn't that mainly a list of the best known presidents?

I wonder how many Americans know enough about all the presidents to have an informed opinion about this.

[George K]

@Klaus said in What would be your ranking of US Presidents?:

I wonder how many Americans know enough about all the presidents to have an informed opinion about this.

Yup.

Respondents included current and recent members of the Presidents & Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, which is the foremost organization of social science experts in presidential politics, as well as scholars who had recently published peer-reviewed academic research in key related scholarly journals or academic presses.

I would like to see more of the methodology. In the white paper linked, it's not really listed other than to say "We asked these guys." IOW, what criteria do the members of the APSA use to judge? Was it something objective (the economy, handling of foreign conflicts, legislation passed), or was it "he was an asshole?"

ETA: IMO, "The Indispensable Man" was the greatest.

[Axtremus]

@Klaus, do the Germans also rank their Chancellors?

Ditto @Doctor-Phibes ... do the Brits have a list of ranked Prime Ministers?

[Jolly]

Yeah, but that's Old Skool.

Besides, he owned slaves.

[George K]

@Jolly said in What would be your ranking of US Presidents?:

Besides, he owned slaves.

So did the VEEP's ancestors...

[George K]

Oh, the other thing.

Considering that academic and professional organizations are among the least diverse when it comes to ideology, you have to take that into account when you judge their opinions.

[Copper]

@Klaus said in What would be your ranking of US Presidents?:

Isn't that mainly a list of the best known presidents?

Best known might be the most important quality of a president. Without it, they will never be president.

We all know that Americans don't know enough about anything to have an informed opinion.

But this list contains the opinions of expert scholars. So the results are predictable.

In my uninformed opinion, placing Mr. Biden at #16 is hilarious. And should be considered an insult to a lot of presidents who deserve better.

[Klaus]

@Axtremus said in What would be your ranking of US Presidents?:

@Klaus, do the Germans also rank their Chancellors?

We have way fewer chancellors - we are at #9 right now - but still most Germans, including myself, couldn't say much about the guys that were not in their lifetime. My top picks would be Adenauer and Schmidt.

[89th]

I find it funny the Democrats' favorite president was a Republican...who freed the slaves.

[Jolly]

Nobody's perfect.

[taiwan_girl]

What would you guys rank as the #1-#5 President. From the little that I know, I agree with the rankings for the top presidents, but I do not know much about Theodore Roosevelt and why he is ranked so highly.

[89th]

Generally speaking most lists will have the top 3 be Lincoln, Washington, and FDR. Hard to argue against those.

For 4 and 5... I'd probably say Jefferson and Eisenhower.

For a rare name, James Polk is worth looking at. Was able to accomplish a lot, including expansion of the US territory to the Pacific, but I think his indifference helped lead to the Civil War, to an extent.

[George K]

Between Jefferson and Polk, the country grew by amazing leaps.

FDR? Well, perhaps with his leadership during most of WWII. There are many who think that his fiscal policies prolonged the depression in the early 1930s.

[Axtremus]

@89th said in What would be your ranking of US Presidents?:

I find it funny the Democrats' favorite president was a Republican...who freed the slaves.

Shows that today's Democrats are principled -- they think freeing the slaves is good and they have no qualms praising a Republican for doing it.

[LuFins Dad]

Woodrow Wilson would be my favorite

James Madison would be my next favorite, but he’s 1/20th the man Wilson is.