Ronald Reagan Seen as Best President since World War II and George W. Bush as the Worst

When shown a list of all U.S. presidents since and including Franklin D. Roosevelt and asked to pick the best, more people (25%) pick Ronald Reagan than any other president. However, this support is lopsidedly partisan. Fully half (50%) of Republicans choose Reagan compared to only 6 percent of Democrats and 20 percent of Independents.

When asked to say who they think was the worst president since World War II, many more people (34%) choose George W. Bush than pick anyone else. Here again the replies are strongly partisan. Fully 58 percent of Democrats and 37 percent of Independents, but only 9 percent of Republicans think George W. Bush the worst recent president.

These are the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,302 U.S. adults surveyed online between January 14 and 22, 2008, by Harris Interactive^®.

When asked to choose the best presidents in U.S. history from a list including all recent presidents and some of the other most famous presidents, a 20 percent plurality choose Abraham Lincoln and a further 13 percent pick him as the second best.

Ronald Reagan comes second on the list (14% see him as the best and 11% as the second best), ahead of Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, George Washington, Bill Clinton, Thomas Jefferson, Harry Truman or Theodore Roosevelt.

As Presidents’ Day approaches, there are several conclusions which can be drawn from these poll results. One is that historical memories are short and that recent presidents tend to get mentioned more often — as best or worst — than earlier presidents. The fact that Reagan, FDR and Kennedy are all mentioned more often than Washington as the best president is particularly striking. Furthermore, short-term memories of recent presidents are still fiercely partisan.

Finally, it is worth noting that perceptions of previous presidents change and will continue to change as time passes — with Harry Truman often mentioned as an example of a president whose reputation has improved over time.

Looking at the list of presidents since World War II, which one do you think was the best president?

Base: All adults

Note: Totals may not add to 100% because of rounding.

Note: * indicates less than 0.5%

Looking at the list of presidents since World War II, which one do you think was the worst president?

Base: All adults

Note: Totals may not add to 100% because of rounding.

Note: * indicates less than 0.5%

Which one of the following presidents do you think was the best overall president in our history?

Base: All adults

Note: Totals for best and second best may not add to 100% because of rounding.

Note: In this question the list included all presidents since Franklin Roosevelt and the other presidents in the table, but not any other presidents

Note: * indicates less than 0.5%

Note: - indicates no response

This Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between January 14 and 22, 2008 among 2,302 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

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