Key Takeaways

• According to Gallup, Donald Trump had an overall approval rating of 45% following his inauguration in January 2017, but the president's approval rating fell to 34% in January 2021, which was his final month in office.
• In January 1993, Bill Clinton's approval rating was 58% during his first month as the President of the United States. By January 2001, his final month, Clinton's approval rating reached 66%.
• President Richard Nixon entered office in January 1969 with an initial approval rating of about 59%. In Nixon's final month as President (August 1974), his approval rating had plummeted to 24%.

Introduction

1. Initial and Final Approval Ratings (Last Five Presidents)

Donald Trump

• According to Gallup, Donald Trump had an overall approval rating of 45% following his inauguration in January 2017, but it fell to 34% in January 2021, which was his final month in office.

 

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• President Trump's approval rating was heavily impacted by a variety of factors, including threats toward North Korea, a highly criticized response to violence from a white nationalist in Charlottesville (Virginia), his impeachment, mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the public opinion, and his response to racial justice protests. Moreover, multiple figures from his 2016 campaign were charged with various crimes by the Justice Department in connection to the investigation into Russian interference. Although Trump enjoyed some positive moments during his presidency, his approval would frequently drop due to controversies, including his reported attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and the ensuing January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Barrack Obama

• When Barrack Obama first entered the Oval Office in January 2009, his approval rating was 67% ((41% of Republicans + 62% of Independents + 88% of Democrats)/3). By the time he left office in January 2017, his approval rating had decreased to 59%.

 

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• Although President Obama's approval rating was hammered due to the persistent financial crisis, ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the fear of terrorism during his presidency, he ended his final term "with a net positive approval rating." An assortment of achievements contributed to it, including the approval of financial reform legislation, enactment of consumer protection laws, the assassination of Osama bin Laden, health care initiatives, stimulation of the economy, climate change agreements, the passage of "a fair pay act for women", etc.

George W. Bush

• In his first month in office (February 2001), President Bush had an approval rating of 57%. However, it plummeted to 34% during his final month (January 2009).

 

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• George W. Bush's initial approval rating was already hurt by his first election, in which he won the electoral college but lost the popular vote, causing critics to doubt his election's legitimacy. Even though it rebounded after the 9/11 attacks, it decreased significantly because of the economic crisis the country endured during his second term. His approval rating was also affected by wars involving the country in two different nations (Iraq and Afghanistan).

Bill Clinton

• In January 1993, Bill Clinton's approval rating was 58% during his first month as the President of the United States. By January 2001, his final month, Clinton's approval rating reached 66%.

 

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• President Bill Clinton's time in office was notable for historic economic growth, a budget surplus, and low unemployment. Furthermore, he appointed numerous women to respectable positions, such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg (the second woman to become a Supreme Court justice), Janet Reno (the first woman to become Attorney General), and Madeleine Albright (the first woman to become Secretary of State). Nonetheless, his approval rating was able to survive his 1998 impeachment, brought on by allegations of obstruction of justice and lying under oath due to his sex scandal involving a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.

George H.W. Bush

• According to Gallup, George H.W. Bush had an initial approval rating of 51% after he took the oath of office in January 1989. When he left office in January 1993, his approval rating rose to 56%.

 

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• President George H.W. Bush's approval rating was beset by an increase in violence within the country's inner cities, a faltering economy, and an economic recession. Moreover, his first and only term in office was plagued by high deficit spending and the reneging of his infamous promise not to raise taxes.

2. Initial and Final Approval Ratings (Five Presidents Since 1945)

Harry S. Truman

• Harry S. Truman's initial approval rating was 87% in June 1945. His final rating decreased to 32% in December 1952.

 

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• While the beginning of Truman's presidency was known for the ending of the Second World War, the deployment of the atomic bomb against Japan, and the country providing assistance to Europe's rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of the war, his later years were marked by the U.S.'s involvement in the Korean War. Also, his popularity was affected by the accusations from Senator Joseph McCarthy of the infiltration of communists in the U.S. government.

Lyndon B. Johnson

• President Lyndon B. Johnson's initial approval rating was 78% in December 1963. By January 1969, his rating dropped to 49%.

 

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• President Lyndon B Johnson was blamed for heavily ramping up the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War in his quest to tamper the Communist aggression, leading to remarkable pushback from the public. Also, in the aftermath of seeking reasonable anti-discrimination and anti-poverty programs, black ghettos experienced rioting and unrest, which caught the nation's attention.

Richard Nixon

• President Richard Nixon entered office in January 1969 with an initial approval rating of about 59%. In Nixon's final month as President (August 1974), his approval rating plummeted to 24%.

 

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• Despite experiencing extremely high approval ratings during his term, particularly in the aftermath of the Vietnam peace settlement, the 1973 Watergate scandal, which involved illegal spying against his opponents in the Democratic National Committee completely erased positive sentiment for the President. Nixon would later resign from office during his second term due to the scandal.

Gerald Ford

• In August 1974, Gerald Ford's initial approval rating was 71%. He left the office with a rating of 53%.

 

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• Although President Gerald R. Ford was successful in restoring faith in the U.S. government following his predecessor's involvement in covering up the Watergate scandal, his decision to eventually pardon former President Nixon for potential crimes harmed his approval ratings and likely resulted in Ford losing the 1976 presidential election. Ford's presidency also endured a struggling economy, high unemployment, high inflation, and an energy crisis, which also hurt his approval ratings. During his one term in office, Ford, who was a Republican, frequently fought with the Democrats controlling Congress, vetoing several bills that may have grown the budget deficit.

Jimmy Carter

• The initial approval rating for Jimmy Carter was 66% in February 1977. However, his final rating was 34% in December 1980.

 

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• Jimmy Carter's approval rating suffered due to his response to the widely-covered hostage crisis involving the U.S. embassy located in Iran, an event that dominated the media coverage of Carter in the final 14 months of his presidency. In addition, President Carter's approval rating was further hammered by a declining economy, high inflation, high unemployment, and an energy crisis during the 1980 presidential election. In addition, several of his proposals were blocked by Congress.

Research Strategy:

Key Takeaways

• The 142 historians and professional observers of the presidency that took part in C-SPAN’s 2021 survey rated the presidents on the following 10 qualities; “Public Persuasion, Crisis Leadership, Economic Management, Moral Authority, International Relations, Administrative Skills, Relations with Congress, Vision/Setting an Agenda, Pursued Equal Justice for All, and Performance Within the Context of the Times.”
• According to The Balance, presidents normally influence a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth via fiscal policy. They either increase or lower taxes and government spending to boost the economy. Therefore, this source ranked the presidents based on the actions they took to influence the country’s GDP growth rate.
• To determine the most to the least popular US presidents, YouGov surveyed approximately 3,000 US adult citizens. The public opinion and data company asked the survey participants to state whether they have very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, and very unfavorable opinions about each of the presidents and whether they don’t know or have not heard of them.
• 141 presidential scholars participated in SCRI’s 2022 US Presidents Survey and ranked the presidents on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) on each of the following twenty presidential attributes, abilities, and accomplishments; “Background (Family, Education, Experience), Party Leadership, Communication Ability (Speak, Write), Relationship with Congress, Court Appointments, Handling of U.S. Economy, Luck, Ability to Compromise, Willing to take Risks, Executive Appointments, Overall Ability, Imagination, Domestic Accomplishments, Integrity, Executive Ability, Foreign Policy Accomplishments, Leadership Ability, Intelligence, Avoid Crucial Mistakes, and Your Personal View.”
• Kiplinger ranked every president since Benjamin Harrison in order from worst to best according to stock market performance.

Introduction

Resources that Compare US Presidents Against Each Other

1. Presidential Historians Survey 2021 by C-SPAN

• Title: Presidential Historians Survey 2021 
• Author: Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN)
• Release Date: June 30, 2021 
• Type of Source: Survey Report by C-SPAN, a private, non-profit company.
• Presidents Compared: From George Washington to Donald Trump.
• Comparison Metrics: C-SPAN has been asking historians to rank each US president on a scale of 1 (least effective) to 10 (most effective) since 2000. The 142 historians and professional observers of the presidency that took part in C-SPAN’s 2021 survey rated the presidents on the following 10 qualities; “Public Persuasion, Crisis Leadership, Economic Management, Moral Authority, International Relations, Administrative Skills, Relations with Congress, Vision/Setting an Agenda, Pursued Equal Justice for All, and Performance Within the Context of the Times.” The anonymized scores were then “averaged to produce a list of presidents ranked from best to worst.”

Summary/Interesting Findings:

• President Donald J. Trump made his debut in the survey at position 41. While he was not the worst president of all time, some survey participants such as the NYU historian Tim Naftali argued that he should be. The 45th President of the United States' highest scores were in “Public Persuasion (#32) and Economic Management (#34) while the historians ranked him in last place (#44) for Moral Authority and Administrative Skills.”
• The three other Presidents that Trump was able to beat were Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, and James Buchanan. According to Jeremy Stahl of Slate, these three presidents have been “widely condemned by historians for severely mishandling the beginnings and aftermath of the Civil War, the worst crisis in national history.”
• While Abraham Lincoln maintained his place at the top spot, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton moved up compared to when they first entered the survey. The complete list from the best to the worst can be seen here.

2. American Presidents: Greatest and Worst by SCRI

• Title: American Presidents: Greatest and Worst
• Author: The Siena College Research Institute’s (SCRI)
• Release Date: June 22, 2022 
• Type of Source: Survey/Report by the SCRI, an affiliate of Siena College that conducts both expert and public opinion polls, focusing on New York and the United States.
• Presidents Compared: From George Washington to Joseph Biden.
• Comparison Metrics: The 141 presidential scholars that participated in SCRI’s 2022 US Presidents Survey ranked the presidents on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) on each of the following twenty presidential attributes, abilities, and accomplishments; “Background (Family, Education, Experience), Party Leadership, Communication Ability (Speak, Write), Relationship with Congress, Court Appointments, Handling of U.S. Economy, Luck, Ability to Compromise, Willing to take Risks, Executive Appointments, Overall Ability, Imagination, Domestic Accomplishments, Integrity, Executive Ability, Foreign Policy Accomplishments, Leadership Ability, Intelligence, Avoid Crucial Mistakes, and Your Personal View.”

 

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Summary/Interesting Findings:

• Franklin D. Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson were named as the top five US Presidents for the seventh time since the survey’s inception. According to SCRI, the 141 participating presidential scholars who took part in this year's survey “agree with their peers over the last 40 years naming the same five leaders as America’s finest.”
• On the other hand, Donald Trump, Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Warren Harding, and Franklin Pierce were named as the bottom five.

 

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• After only one year in office, President Biden debuted on the list at position 19. He was highly rated on his ability to “compromise (9th), court appointments (10th), executive appointments (10th), and integrity (12th) but lower on luck (34th), his relationship with Congress (31st), and his communication ability (30th).”
• Another interesting fact is that President Lyndon Johnson entered the survey’s top 10 list for the first time because of his work with Congress (1st) and court appointments (4th).

 

Source

3. GDP Growth by President by The Balance

• Title: GDP Growth by President 
• Author: Written by Kimberly Amadeo, reviewed by Robert C. Kelly, and fact-checked by Katie Turner
• Release Date: July 19, 2022 
• Type of Source: An article published on The Balance, an American website focused on simplifying personal finance topics and news.
• Presidents Compared: From President Herbert Hoover to Joseph Biden.
• Comparison Metrics: According to the article, presidents normally influence a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth via fiscal policy. They either increase or lower taxes and government spending to boost the economy. Therefore, this article ranked the presidents based on the actions they took to influence the country’s GDP growth rate.

Summary/Interesting Findings:

• President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the best annual GDP growth in 1942 when the US economy grew by 18.9% while Herbert Hoover had the worst when the economy contracted by 12.9% in 1932.
• The article also stated that President Harry Truman got affected by World War II, as the economy contracted by 11.6% in 1946.
• It should also be noted that the country’s worst annual post-war contraction (-2.5%) happened during President Obama’s first year in office, because of the 2008 financial crisis.

 

Source

4. The Most and Least Popular US Presidents According to Americans by YouGov

• Title: The Most and Least Popular US presidents, According to Americans
• Author: Matthew Smith 
• Release Date: July 27, 2021 
• Type of Source: Public Opinion Poll by YouGov, a public opinion and data company.
• Presidents Compared: From George Washington to Joseph Biden.
• Comparison Metrics: To determine the most to the least popular US presidents, YouGov surveyed approximately 3,000 US adult citizens. The public opinion and data company asked the survey participants to state whether they have very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, and very unfavorable opinions about each of the presidents and whether they don’t know or have not heard of them.

• From the poll, Abraham Lincoln emerged as the most popular president with 8 in 10 Americans (80%) having a “favorable view of the president who freed the slaves and won the Civil War.”
• John F. Kennedy came in second with 73% of Americans having a favorable view of him. According to YouGov, Kennedy beating the more traditional runner-up George Washington who came in third at 70% was a surprise.
• The survey also found out that Richard Nixon is the most unpopular US president. Additionally, both he and Donal Trump are currently seen unfavorably by a majority of Americans at 56% and 54%, respectively.

 

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5. The Best and Worst Presidents (According to the Stock Market) by Kiplinger

• Title: The Best and Worst Presidents (According to the Stock Market)
• Author: Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFA 
• Release Date: May 5, 2022 
• Type of Source: An article by Kiplinger, an American publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice.
• Presidents Compared: From Benjamin Harrison to Joseph Biden. 
• Comparison Metrics: Kiplinger ranked every president since Benjamin Harrison in order from worst to best according to stock market performance.

Summary/Interesting Findings:

• With a cumulative loss of 77.1% and an annualized compound loss of 30.8%, President Herbert Hoover came in last. However, it should be noted that Hoover took office just months before the 1929 crash.
• On the other hand, the man who presided over the boom years of the Roaring Twenties, President Calvin Coolidge, took the number one position. According to Kiplinger, the “Dow soared an incredible 266%, translating to compound annualized gains of 26.1% per year” during Coolidge’s five-and-a-half years in office. He was lucky enough to become the president just as the 1920s were starting to roar and retire just before everything started to fall apart.

Research Strategy