Saturday, July 3, 2010

Presidential Ranking

The top five Presidents have stayed consistent since a group of history scholars have been ranking them. FDR is #1 and the others shuffle around within that range. Rounding out the top five in the survey of 238 presidential scholars are Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. This is from an article in Politics Daily. Rest of the article HERE.
The presidents are ranked according to personal attributes (background, imagination, integrity, intelligence, luck and willingness to take risks), five forms of ability (compromising, executive, leadership, communication and overall) and accomplishments (in economics, domestic and foreign affairs, choosing a staff, working with Congress and appointing Supreme Court justices).

As for the five lowest-ranked presidents, that list is fairly consistent as well, with one new addition. George W. Bush came in at 39th out 44 presidents. He's ranked just ahead of Andrew Johnson (pictured), James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin Pierce, all perennial bottom-dwellers.

The second Bush was rated "especially poorly in handling the economy, communication, ability to compromise, foreign policy accomplishments and intelligence."

The current president, Barack Obama, enters the survey in the 15th position.

Read the survey report here and see the complete rankings here.

1 comments:

Beth said...

I saw that article the other day and found it really fascinating. I recall remarking somewhere that I wish I knew more about our Presidents...I think 'Presidential scholar' would be a fascinating profession!