The charismatic Ronald Wilson Reagan( February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004), the 40th President of the United States has been rated as the best American President since World War Two and the second best in history after Abraham Lincoln and followed by George Washington according to the Harris Poll released today ahead of this year's Presidents' Day on February 21, 2012.
Guess who is rated the worst President?
George W. Bush!
The following is the complete report of the poll.
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As the nation prepares to celebrate Presidents' Day, it is always interesting to see what people think about some of the past presidents. Looking at all the presidents since World War II, one-quarter of Americans (25%) say Ronald Reagan is the best president, one in five (19%) say Franklin Roosevelt while 15% say it is John Kennedy and 12% say Bill Clinton. The nine other presidents, including Barack Obama, are at 4% or less.
Looking at the flip side, just over one-quarter of U.S. adults (27%) say that George W. Bush was the worst president while just under one-quarter (22%) say Barack Obama is the worst; one in ten (12%) say the worst was Richard Nixon. The ten other presidents are at 5% or less.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,016 adults surveyed online between January 16 and 23, 2012 by Harris Interactive.
Partisan differences
Presidents are elected bearing a party label, so it's not surprising that partisans have different opinions about who the best and worst presidents are. For Republicans, over half (55%) say Ronald Reagan was the best president and almost half (47%) say Barack Obama is the worst president. Among Democrats, there are three presidents bunched near the top for best – Franklin Roosevelt (25%), Bill Clinton (22%) and John Kennedy (18%). It's an easier choice for worst president for Democrats as almost half (48%) say George W. Bush was the worst.
For Independents, there isn't a clear answer for either category. One-quarter of Independents (24%) say Franklin Roosevelt was the best, one in five (21%) say Ronald Reagan was the best and 17% say the best was John Kennedy. Looking at the other side, one-quarter (24%) say George W. Bush was the worst president while one in five Independents (19%) say Barack Obama is the worst.
Best presidents in history
If the list of presidents is expanded to include some of the founding fathers, such as Washington, Jefferson and Adams, as well as other presidents including Lincoln, Wilson and Jackson, the results of who is best change slightly. If we look at a combined best or second best, one-third of Americans (32%) say Abraham Lincoln was the best president, one-quarter (26%) say Ronald Reagan was the best and one in five say George Washington (21%), John Kennedy (21%) and Bill Clinton (19%) were the best presidents.
So What?
History has shown us that a president is best judged years after he has left office. Decisions made while sitting in the Oval Office may be seen as the wrong decision by many Americans at that point in time, but as time passes, the wisdom of some of these hard choices becomes clear. And, the reverse is also true.
Click here for the rest of the report.
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