The modern presidency has been lucky to have several chief executives ranked among the greatest. And of course, it’s had some of the “worst,” as seen in the cellar rankings of outgoing President Joe Biden.
But it also has something unique in America’s 236 years since George Washington first stepped into the job. In President-elect Donald Trump, it has both a worst and “great” chief and potentially one of the greatest ever.
Kicked to the curb following two impeachments and a 2020 loss to Biden, Trump has surged in the latest Zogby Analytics Presidential Greatness Poll provided exclusively to Secrets. Trump is now fifth among the last 15 modern-day presidents, from Franklin Delano Roosevelt on.
Adults interviewed by Zogby Analytics gave Trump a 30% “great” and 17% “near great” rating for a 47% greatness score.
- Camelot is American royalty. John F. Kennedy is our top-rated president again. Although he did not serve long and was tragically assassinated, surveyed adults remember him more fondly than FDR.
- Reagan is steadily cementing his place as one of the great presidents of the modern era. Large numbers of Democrats and Independents rated him great or near great.
- Obama remains popular with surveyed adults but was somewhat eclipsed by the recent passing of President Jimmy Carter, whose numbers improved since our last poll. Obama also had a high failure rating, which was the same as President Nixon. Since our last poll his rating has risen.
- Trump was viewed in extreme terms on both ends of the spectrum. Surveyed adults that lean Republican loved him, while those who were Democrats loathed him. Trump’s next term will determine if he is remembered as one of the great Republican presidents or a failure.
- Biden’s rating was horrendous. While he was president, prices spiraled out of control, wages stagnated, and certain parts of the world became more unstable. It is amazing that more did not rate him a failure. In the eyes of some, there is no undoing the damage to his legacy and to Americans. Time will tell.