Today’s party trick features not one, but TWO “Presidential Lists.”
The first, courtesy a couple of professors , one at the University of Houston and the other at Boise State University, who surveyed current and recent members of the Presidents & Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, is your standard list of Presidents in perceived best to worst order. Here’s the top ten:
Name 2018 Rating 2018 Rank 2014 Rating Lincoln 95.03 1 1 Washington 92.59 2 2 FDR 89.09 3 3 T. Roosevelt 81.39 4 4 Jefferson 79.54 5 5 Truman 75.15 6 6 Eisenhower 74. 03 7 Obama 71.13 8 18 Reagan 69.24 9 11 LBJ 69.06 10 12
And the bottom five:
Name 2018 Rating 2018 Rank 2014 Rating A. Johnson 24.91 40 41 Pierce 23.25 41 40 Wm Harrison 19.02 42 39 Buchanan 15.09 43 43 Trump 12.34 44 n/a
Yeah, that’s Trump at the bottom. But it honestly doesn’t mean much, because it’s too soon to evaluate his entire legacy, no matter how much distaste I have for him now.
Similarly, even though I’ve mentioned that I believe Obama will be considered a top-ten President eventually, his climb to 8th is, again, too soon to take seriously.
I see two factors in waiting fifty years before taking these sorts of polls seriously, even though the respondents are professional political science academics.
First, there is the inevitable political leanings of the academics, and the more recent the subject, the stronger those will wear on the evaluator. A little time and a new team of academics will lend more objectivity to a subjective exercise.
Second, certain decisions will have consequences decades later. For example, the decision to use torture by the Bush 43 Administration will echo down the ages. I fear it’ll have lasting damage on the United States’ reputation, and therefore its ability to do business. Personally, I’m stunned to see Bush 43 has climbed to position 30 (previously 35). Similarly, will Obama’s strategy vis a vis North Korea turn out to be a disaster? Or will North Korea’s regime fall victim to its own excesses and shortcomings, leaving Obama’s patience strategy the winner?
There is more to this poll than just this. For example, they broke down the respondents by their leanings, in order to see how personal politics might influence the evaluations. Here’s GW Bush, Obama, and Trump:
Name Republican Rank Democrat Rank Independent/ Other Rank Conservative Rank Liberal Rank Moderate Rank GW Bush 23 30 31 23 33 28 Obama 16 6 12 22 6 11 Trump 40 44 43 40 44 44
Trump impresses no one but his base, apparently. Meanwhile, Obama appears to have impressed at least some of the Republicans, if not the Conservatives. Time will tell.
I mentioned two lists, didn’t I? The second is on Treehugger, and merely asks readers to select which President was the greenest President. Whoever can organize the biggest bloc of Internet users wins, I guess. Have at it.
