Majority Of Americans Say Barack Obama Is The Best President Of Their Lifetime
A majority of Americans say that Barack Obama is the best president of their lifetime, according to a new survey.
A Pew Research Center poll released this week shows that Obama is the most common response when Americans were asked which president did the best job in their lifetime. A total of 44 percent of Americans said that Obama was either the best or second-best during their lives, and 31 percent put Obama at No. 1.
Donald Trump, who frequently takes aim at his predecessor, came in fourth on the poll behind Obama, Bill Clinton, and Ronald Reagan. As ABC News noted, Obama has seen a rise in popularity since leaving office.
“While 19 percent might seem low, 20 percent of Americans ranked Obama as the best or second best president in 2011, at a similar point in his first term and the last time Pew conducted this poll,” the report noted.
There was a generational shift as well, the report noted. Among millennials, more than 60 percent said Obama was either the best or second-best president in their lives, with 46 percent saying he was the best. Older generations picked Ronald Reagan as the best of their lifetimes.
Trump, who has often touted polls that show his popularity, has not fared well in polls that measure where he stands in history. After just one year in office, a contingent of 170 historians were nearly unanimous in putting Trump dead last among all presidents in American history.
The New York Times surveyed the 170 members of the American Political Science Association’s Presidents and Executive Politics for a poll in early 2018, asking them to rank all 45 American presidents. They were asked to grade presidents on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being great, 50 being average, and 0 considered a total failure.
Obama pens handwritten note to inmate he released who made dean's list: "I'm so proud of you" https://t.co/s2JcPdgHPt pic.twitter.com/rzlbpEqHap
— The Hill (@thehill) July 12, 2019
Abraham Lincoln topped the list with a score of 95, while George Washington scored a 93 and Franklin Delano Roosevelt had an 89. Barack Obama moved up to No. 8 with a score of 71.
Trump came in dead last with an average score was 12, which was three points lower than James Buchanan, the president credited with plunging the United States into the Civil War.
After taking a year away from the spotlight, Barack Obama has emerged as a major figure in American politics again and a chief force to stop Donald Trump. Obama was active on the 2018 midterm campaign trail, helping boost Democratic candidates as they were able to win the House of Representatives back from Republicans and give an important check on Trump’s agenda.
