Big surprise – presidential experts rank Donald Trump dead last in the presidential greatness ranking that they make every four years.
Those experts, 170 members of the American Political Science Association’s Presidents and Executive Politics section, put Trump below even James Buchanan, who led the United States when our country ran headlong into civil war, according to an op-ed in The New York Times on the newest presidential greatness survey. The piece is written by two of the experts: Brandon Rottinghaus, professor of political science at the University of Houston, and Justin S. Vaughn, associate professor of political science and director of the Center for Idaho History and Politics at Boise State University.
Presidential experts rank our presidents
1. Abraham Lincoln2. George Washington3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt4. Theodore Roosevelt5. Thomas Jefferson6. Harry Truman7. Dwight D. Eisenhower8. Barack Obama9. Ronald Reagan10. Lyndon Johnson
Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, made the Top 10, up from 18th in the previous survey. Obama ranks No. 8 – above Ronald Reagan’s No. 9. Ulysses S. Grant moved up seven places from 2014, perhaps owing to a recent Ron Chernow biography of him. Bill Clinton tumbled from 8 to 13, probably thanks to evolving attitudes about the appropriate treatment of women. Andrew Jackson also dropped – from 9 to 15 – likely because of enlightened thinking on his treatment of Native Americans.
Trump ranks 44th. (Yes, he’s our 45th president, but Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms – first as our 22nd president and later as our 24th president.)