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Survey claims Trump is worst president ever, Obama moves into top 10

Trump last, Lincoln first, according to survey
Survey claims Trump is worst president ever, Obama moves into top 10
Posted at 5:42 PM, Feb 19, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-20 17:38:37-05

President Donald Trump has been in office a little over a year now, but according to a survey from The New York Times, that's enough time for the sitting president to be ranked the worst in history.

The 2018 Presidents & Executive Politics Presidential Greatness Survey ranked all 44 presidents in the history of the United States.

Trump ranked at the bottom of the list, bumping James Buchanan, the president who played a key role in the Civil War, up to 43. Abraham Lincoln ranked first overall in the survey, which was the same as his ranking in the 2014 survey.

The survey respondents were current and recent members of the President and Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association. 

Both Democratic scholars and Independents had Lincoln as their top president. Republican scholars ranked Washington as first and Lincoln as second. Democrats ranked Trump as 44th, Independents ranked him as 43rd, and Republicans ranked him as 40th.

A few presidents' rankings shifted since the last survey in 2014. Barack Obama moved up from 18th to 8th.

Bill Clinton's ranking plummeted from 8th to 13th and Andrew Jackson moved down 6 spots.

The top 10 presidents:

  1. Lincoln
  2. Washington
  3. F.D. Roosevelt
  4. T. Roosevelt
  5. Jefferson
  6. Truman
  7. Eisenhower
  8. Obama
  9. Reagan
  10. L.B. Johnson

The study also found that Franklin Roosevelt is the most favorable president to be carved next into Mt. Rushmore, with an overwhelming 66 percent. Each party had Roosevelt as their top choice.