*When it comes to the greatest U.S. presidents to hold office, Barack Obama and Donald Trump are nowhere near each other on the list.
Citing Desert News, Yahoo detailed the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey, reporting that Obama cracked the top 10 at #7 with an average rating of (73.8). Michele’s husband was highest among recent presidents on the survey, which found Abraham Lincoln at the top with 93.87.
Rounding out the top five were Franklin Delano Roosevelt, second (90.83); George Washington, third (90.32). Teddy Roosevelt, fourth (78.58), and Thomas Jefferson fifth (77.53).
Commissioned by political scientists Brandon Rottinghaus from the University of Houston and Justin S. Vaughn from Coastal Carolina University, the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey asked 154 political scientists and other experts to rate each U.S. president on a scale of 0 to 100 for their overall “greatness,” Yahoo noted, adding that the totals for each president were averaged then ranked.
So how is “greatness” defined?
According to Vaughn, it comes down to scholars thinking beyond what they view as a “good” president.
“A great president is one who expanded the institution of the president, who presided over a growth in American power or who led the country through a crisis — those types of things,” the Coastal Carolina professor of political science/survey organizer said. “It goes beyond whether or not you agreed with the president’s politics, or whether or not you think he was ‘good.’”
With the rest of the top 10 itself, the list ranked Harry Truman sixth with 75.34, Obama, seventh (73.8), Dwight Eisenhower, eighth (73.73), Lyndon B. Johnson, ninth (72.86), and John F. Kennedy, 10th, (68.37).
Notable greatest president rankings included current U.S. President Joe Biden, 14th (62.66), Ronald Reagan, 16th (61.62), George H.W. Bush, 19th (58.54), and his son George W. Bush, 32nd (40.43) 32nd.
As for Trump, he ranked lowest at 10.92. Despite the loss in the “greatness” category, #45 did score a win as the most polarizing of the ranked presidents with a 1.64 average (1 is a “most polarizing” ranking, according to the survey)
This year marked the third time for the Presidential Greatness Project survey, which conducted previous studies in 2015 and 2018.
To see more results from the survey – including which president should join Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt on Mt. Rushmore as well as the Most Under-Rated Presidents and the Most Over-Rated Presidents, click here.
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