President Joe Biden came in at number 14 on a list of the best leaders in American history, while former president Donald Trump, who he is expected to face in the 2024 presidential race, was placed last.
According to The Hill, current and recent members of the American Political Science Association's Presidents and Executive Politics Section—the preeminent group of social science specialists in presidential politics—participated in the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey, which ran from November 15 through December 31, 2023. A total of 154 academics from throughout the nation responded to the poll.
Best US President?
Abraham Lincoln was named by the experts as the best president in the history of the United States. Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson are also at the top of the list. Historians, regardless of their political leanings or philosophy, seem to have similar opinions on many presidents, said the New York Times.
Meanwhile, Biden was ranked higher than Ulysses S. Grant, Ronald Reagan, and Woodrow Wilson. Another former leader, Barack Obama, rose eight positions from last year's expert poll to take the 7th place this time around.
Among those polled, Trump ranked 45th, which was lower than James Buchanan (44th), Andrew Johnson (43rd), Franklin Pierce (42nd), and William Henry Harrison (41st).
With the surveyors claiming it did not generally make a big impact, the poll also rated the ideological and political divisions among respondents.
Obama and Biden's rankings, however, revealed a clear party division: Democrats placed them 6th and 13th, respectively, while Republicans ranked them 15th and 30th.
