Trump suffers embarrassing placing in new presidential ranking
Donald Trump hasn’t had a good couple of days. On Friday, he was ordered to pay more than $350m after being found guilty of committing financial fraud in New York.
Now, the 77-year-old has come rock bottom of a survey ranking of who was the greatest US president.
The 2024 Presidential Greatness Project surveyed experts who are members of the American Political Science Association, and was carried out by the University of Houston.
It ranked Abraham Lincoln as the greatest US president with a 95.03 average score out of 100, with Franklin Delano Roosevelt in at number two with 90.83, George Washington in third with 90.32.
Trump, meanwhile had a rough time, receiving the lowest rating with a 10.92 average. That is well below James Buchanan, the next worst president, with 16.71.
Buchanan’s presidency ended in 1861, and came in the years directly preceding the American Civil War.
President Joe Biden didn’t do badly, and was ranked in the top third of the list, placing at fourteenth with a rating of 62.7.
The survey takes place every four years.
Professor Justin Vaughn, co-director of the Presidential Greatness Project, told Newsweek that there is a “rich history” of similar rankings but noted those focused “largely on historians”.
“Lincoln has topped the list all three times we have conducted this survey. Trump was last in 2018 as well, but not included in 2015 because Obama was still president.
“Lincoln is usually number one, regardless of the survey organisation, though occasionally George Washington and even Franklin Delano Roosevelt get ranked number one.”
Trump’s placing at bottom of the list sparked anger on social media, with his followers predictably outraged at the results.
Vaughan said: “Disagreement seems to be particularly strong when we’re talking about current or very recent presidents, and especially so in this instance.
“One thing worth noting is that many of the characteristics that some supporters of President Trump like the most about him – his willingness to break norms, his style of communication – are the ones that caused him to be negatively assessed in this survey.”