` 17 PRESIDENTIAL RANKINGS

Scholar survey results

• Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile.
• Green backgrounds indicate second quartile.
• Orange backgrounds indicate third quartile.
• Red backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.

No	President	Political party	Schlesinger 1948 poll rank	Schlesinger 1962 poll rank	1982 Murray-Blessing survey	Chicago Tribune 1982 poll rank	Siena 1982 poll rank	Siena 1990 poll rank	Siena 1994 poll rank	Ridings- McIver 1996 poll rank	Schlesinger 1996 poll rank	CSPAN 1999 poll rank	Wall Street Journal 2000 poll rank	Siena 2002 poll rank	Wall Street Journal 2005 poll rank	Times 2008 poll rank	CSPAN 2009 poll rank	Siena 2010 poll rank	USPC 2011 poll rank	Aggregate ranking ^[17]
	Total in survey		29	31	36	38	39	40	41	41	39	41	39	42	40	42	42	43	40	43
01	Washington, George !George Washington	None	02	02	03	03	04	04	04	03	02	03	01	04	01	02	02	04	03	03
02	Adams, John !John Adams	Federalist	09	10	09	14 (tie)	10	14	12	14	11	16	13	12	13	13	17	17	12	12
03	Jefferson, Thomas !Thomas Jefferson	Dem-Repub	05	05	04	05	02	03	05	04	04	07	04	05	04	04	07	05	04	04
04	Madison, James !James Madison	Dem-Repub	14	12	14	17	09	08	09	10	17	18	15	09	17	15	20	06	14	13
05	Monroe, James !James Monroe	Dem-Repub	12	18	15	16	15	11	15	13	15	14	16	08	16	21	14	07	13	14 (tie)
06	Adams, John Q !John Quincy Adams	Dem-Repub	11	13	16	19	17	16	17	18	18	19	20	17	25	16	19	19	20	18
07	Jackson, Andrew !Andrew Jackson	Democratic	06	06	07	06	13	09	11	08	05	13	06	13	10	14	13	14	09	08 (tie)
08	Van Buren, Martin !Martin Van Buren	Democratic	15	17	20	18	21	21	22	21	21	30	23	24	27	40	31	23	27	24
09	Harrison, William Henry !William Henry Harrison	Whig	99  –	99  –	99  –	38	26	35	28	35	99  –	37	99  –	36	99  –	39	39	35	99  –	38 (tie)
10	Tyler, John !John Tyler	Whig	22	25	28	29	34	33	34	34	32	36	34	37	35	31	35	37	37	36
11	Polk, James K !James K. Polk	Democratic	10	08	12	11	12	13	14	11	09	12	10	11	09	09	12	12	16	10
12	Taylor, Zachary !Zachary Taylor	Whig	25	24	27	28	29	34	33	29	29	28	31	34	33	28	29	33	33	35
13	Fillmore, Millard !Millard Fillmore	Whig	24	26	29	31	32	32	35	36	31	35	35	38	36	33	37	38	35	38 (tie)
14	Pierce, Franklin !Franklin Pierce	Democratic	27	28	31	35	35	36	37	37	33	39	37	39	38	41	40	40	39	40
15	Buchanan, James !James Buchanan	Democratic	26	29	33	36	37	38	39	40	38	41	39	41	40	42	42	42	40	42
16	Lincoln, Abraham !Abraham Lincoln	Republican/National Union	01	01	01	01	03	02	02	01	01	01	02	02	02	01	01	03	02	01
17	Johnson, Andrew !Andrew Johnson	Democratic/National Union	19	23	32	32	38	39	40	39	37	40	36	42	37	24	41	43	36	41
18	Grant, Ulysses S !Ulysses S. Grant	Republican	28	30	35	30	36	37	38	38	34	33	32	35	29	18	23	26	29	37
19	Hayes, Rutherford B !Rutherford B. Hayes	Republican	13	14	22	22	22	23	24	25	23	26	22	27	24	27	33	31	30	25
20	Garfield, James A !James A. Garfield	Republican	99  –	99  –	99  –	33	25	30	26	30	99  –	29	99  –	33	99  –	34	28	27	99  –	29 (tie)
21	Arthur, Chester A !Chester A. Arthur	Republican	17	21	26	24	24	26	27	28	26	32	26	30	26	22	32	25	32	28
22/24	Cleveland, Grover !Grover Cleveland	Democratic	08	11	17	13	18	17	19	16	13	17	12	20	12	19	21	20	21	19
23	Harrison, Benjamin !Benjamin Harrison	Republican	21	20	23	25	31	29	30	31	19	31	27	32	30	30	30	34	34	33
25	McKinley, William !William McKinley	Republican	18	15	18	10	19	19	18	17	16	15	14	19	14	17	16	21	17	20 (tie)
26	Roosevelt, Theodore !Theodore Roosevelt	Republican	07	07	05	04	05	05	03	05	06	04	05	03	05	05	04	02	05	05
27	Taft, William Howard !William Howard Taft	Republican	16	16	19	20	20	20	21	20	22	24	19	21	20	29	24	24	25	22 (tie)
28	Wilson, Woodrow !Woodrow Wilson	Democratic	04	04	06	07	06	06	06	06	07	06	11	06	11	10	09	08	06	06
29	Harding, Warren G !Warren G. Harding	Republican	29	31	36	37	39	40	41	41	39	38	37	40	39	35	38	41	38	43
30	Coolidge, Calvin !Calvin Coolidge	Republican	23	27	30	27	30	31	36	33	30	27	25	29	23	26	26	29	28	31
31	Hoover, Herbert !Herbert Hoover	Republican	20	19	21	21	27	28	29	24	35	34	29	31	31	36	34	36	26	29 (tie)
32	Roosevelt, Frankin D !Franklin D. Roosevelt	Democratic	03	03	02	02	01	01	01	02	03	02	03	01	03	03	03	01	01	02
33	Truman, Harry S !Harry S. Truman	Democratic	99  –	09	08	08	07	07	07	07	08	05	07	07	07	07	05	09	07	07
34	Eisenhower, Dwight D !Dwight D. Eisenhower	Republican	99  –	22	11	09	11	12	08	09	10	09	09	10	08	06	08	10	10	08 (tie)
35	Kennedy, John F !John F. Kennedy	Democratic	99  –	99  –	13	14 (tie)	08	10	10	15	12	08	18	14	15	11	06	11	15	11
36	Johnson, Lyndon B !Lyndon B. Johnson	Democratic	99  –	99  –	10	12	14	15	13	12	14	10	17	15	18	12	11	16	11	14 (tie)
37	Nixon, Richard !Richard Nixon	Republican	99  –	99  –	34	34	28	25	23	32	36	25	33	26	32	38	27	30	23	32
38	Ford, Gerald R !Gerald Ford	Republican	99  –	99  –	24	23	23	27	32	27	28	23	28	28	28	25	22	28	24	26
39	Carter, Jimmy !Jimmy Carter	Democratic	99  –	99  –	25	26	33	24	25	19	27	22	30	25	34	32	25	32	18	27
40	Reagan, Ronald !Ronald Reagan	Republican	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	16 *	22	20	26	25	11	08	16	06	08	10	18	08	17
41	Bush, George H W !George H. W. Bush	Republican	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	18 *	31	22	24	20	21	22	21	20	18	22	22	22 (tie)
42	Clinton, Bill !Bill Clinton	Democratic	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	16 *	23 *	20 *	21 *	24 *	18	22	23	15	13	19	20 (tie)
43	Bush, George W !George W. Bush	Republican	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	23 *	19 *	37 *	36	39	31	34
44	Obama, Barack !Barack Obama	Democratic	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	99  –	15 *	99  –	14 (tie) *

* Ranking calculated before President had completed his term in office

Because Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms as both the 22nd and 24th President, the total number of Presidents in each poll is at least one less than the number of the most recently serving President in the poll. Because of their short time in office, Presidents William Henry Harrison and James Garfield are sometimes omitted from these polls.

More than 1,000 people^[vague] have participated in the surveys. The issue of the validity of the rankings has been of special interest to historians and political scientists, who have tried to specify the relative importance of personality, leadership, issues and partisanship. Quantitative ranking by groups of scholars has been in favor in recent decades, displacing the traditional methods of evaluation by individual writers as typified by Bailey (1966) and most biographers.^[c