Ranking of United States Presidents isn't just a hobby for history nerds with too much time on their hands. It's basically a high-stakes blood sport where reputations are resurrected or buried under a mountain of data. You might think the list is set in stone—Lincoln, Washington, FDR, and then everyone else—but that’s honestly not how it works. History is alive. It moves.
Take Ulysses S. Grant. For decades, he was the "drunkard" who oversaw a corrupt administration, consistently bottoming out in the rankings. Now? He's a civil rights hero who’s rocketed up into the top 20 of the C-SPAN 2021 Historians Survey.
Why the Top 5 Rarely Changes (But the Order Does)
If you look at the major surveys from Siena College or the Presidential Greatness Project, the heavy hitters stay consistent. Abraham Lincoln usually sits at the top. His ability to hold the Union together while navigating the literal apocalypse of the Civil War is the gold standard.
But FDR and Washington are constantly fighting for that second-place trophy. In the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey, Franklin D. Roosevelt actually jumped over George Washington for the #2 spot. Why? Scholars are leaning more into the "modern presidency." Washington built the house, but FDR basically wired it for electricity and added five more floors during the Great Depression.
It’s about crisis management.
Presidents who face a world-ending event and don't blink always rank higher. It's why JFK and Reagan stay in the top 10 or 15 despite having plenty of critics. They had "the look." They had the voice. Honestly, vision matters just as much as policy when historians start filling out their spreadsheets.
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The Basement: Where Presidents Go to Be Forgotten
While the top of the list is a fight for glory, the bottom is a graveyard of "what-ifs" and "never-should-haves." James Buchanan is a permanent resident here. He’s the guy who watched the country fall apart and essentially said, "Not my problem."
- James Buchanan: Consistently dead last because he did nothing to stop the Civil War.
- Andrew Johnson: Ranked near the bottom for actively sabotaging Reconstruction.
- Franklin Pierce: Signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and fueled the fire.
You've probably noticed a pattern. The worst-ranked presidents aren't just the ones who were "bad" at the job; they’re the ones whose failures had the highest body counts.
Interestingly, Donald Trump entered the rankings in the bottom quartile. In the APSA 2024 survey, he was ranked 45th, while C-SPAN had him at 41st in 2021. Historians often cite the breach of institutional norms and the January 6th Capitol riot as the primary reasons for these initial low marks. It takes about 20 years for "settled" history to form, so these numbers will likely wobble as time passes.
The Great Rehabilitation: The Case of Ulysses S. Grant
Grant’s rise is the most dramatic shift in the history of the ranking of United States Presidents.
In 1948, the first Schlesinger poll labeled him a "failure." He was 33rd out of 44 in the 2000 C-SPAN survey. But then historians like Ron Chernow started looking closer at his protection of newly freed slaves and his battle against the KKK. Suddenly, the "corruption" of his cabinet seemed less important than his pursuit of equal justice.
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By 2021, he hit 20th. That’s a massive jump.
It shows that what we value today—civil rights, moral authority—is different from what historians valued in the 1950s. Back then, they cared more about "administrative efficiency." Today, we want to know if a president stood on the right side of humanity.
The "Recency Bias" Trap
We all do it. We think the current president is either the savior of the world or the literal devil. Historians try to avoid this, but they aren't robots.
Barack Obama has seen a steady climb, hitting #10 in the 2021 C-SPAN poll. George W. Bush, who left office with dismal approval ratings, has also moved up from 36th in 2009 to 29th. Why? Because the "scandal of the week" fades and the long-term impact of their policies becomes clearer.
Or sometimes, the guy who comes after them makes them look better by comparison. That’s a real thing in political science.
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How the Experts Actually Grade Them
The Siena College Research Institute uses 20 different categories. They look at things like:
- Party Leadership: Can they actually control their own side?
- Communication: Do they sound like a leader?
- Court Appointments: How long will their influence last?
- Luck: Seriously, some presidents just get lucky.
It’s not just "I like this guy's vibe." It’s a messy, complicated calculation. If a president has a great relationship with Congress but a terrible economic record, they’ll sink. If they’re a moral giant but a disaster at international relations, they’ll hover in the middle.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs
If you want to understand these rankings without getting lost in the weeds, here is what you should actually do:
- Check the source's bias: Surveys of political scientists (like APSA) often skew slightly more liberal than surveys of historians or biographers. Look at both to find the "average" truth.
- Look at the "Equal Justice" score: This is the category moving the needle the most right now. Presidents like Woodrow Wilson are falling fast (down to 13th and lower) because of their poor records on race.
- Wait for the 20-year mark: Don't take rankings for Biden, Trump, or even Obama as gospel yet. History needs time to breathe.
- Read the biographies: If a president jumps 10 spots in a decade, there’s usually a new, definitive biography that changed the narrative. Start with Chernow or McCullough.
The ranking of United States Presidents is a mirror of us. We rank them based on what we care about right now. As our values shift, the list will keep changing. That’s not a flaw in the system; it’s the whole point of studying history.
To see the full breakdown of the most recent data, you can visit the C-SPAN 2021 Historians Survey or the Siena 2022 Presidential Rankings.