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C-SPAN detailed presidential rankings


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6 minutes ago, Patine said:

This would be like us Canadians saying Jean Chretien should be among the top tier of the Greatest Canadian PM's for being, "one of the greatest pure politicians to ever do it," (he certainly was considered in Canadian media, "the archetypal politician," back in the '90's). He probably belongs among the 10 best Canadian PM's - but for very different reasons, though. 😉

Hell yeah brother

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11 hours ago, vcczar said:

Here are my observations:

  • Jackson has fallen to his lowest rank ever in a major ranking study. 
  • Van Buren is lower than usual, but he's been at this level one other time. 
  • This is Grant's best major ranking
  • This is the best McKinley has done in awhile
  • This is Wilson's worst ranking in a major poll
  • Probably because of Trump, Harding isn't viewed quite as badly as he has been historically. He's still in the failed category, however. 
  • This is a rather good ranking for Coolidge compared to most rankings.
  • This ties for Eisenhower's best ranking
  • JFK has has rankings this good (and even better). It's hard for me to see someone that couldn't pass much legislation get in the top 10. 
  • Clinton is slowly dropping in the rankings
  • GW Bush is slowly rising in the rankings
  • Obama is being reconfirmed as a good-to-great president
  • This is Trump's best ranking, but he's still a failure. 

I still think Harding is underrated.

Obama, I think should be in the middle. He was not the best, nor the worst.

Personally, I'm glad to see Clinton drop and Bush rise.

  • Agree 3
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10 hours ago, MrPotatoTed said:

I clearly don't know enough about Franklin Pierce.  I understand Buchanan and Johnson's rating, but why is Pierce worse than Trump?

Well, he did support an American dictatorship in Nicaragua...

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6 hours ago, jvikings1 said:

What would you classify as older? That might help me answer your question

Earlier ones. (Or at least, anybody before um...1970s?)

Edited by Timur
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6 hours ago, DakotaHale said:

Wilson being 13 is disgusting and tells you the type of people they interview to do these rankings. Him being 6 as recently as 2000 is puzzling.

Top 4 are respectable, though I think Teddy is better than his cousin.

Eisenhower as 5th is surprising, though he was certainly a good President respected by both sides of the aisle.

Obama top 10 is recency bias.

Bill Clinton at 19 seems perfect for some reason. I don't think he's better or worse than that.

Coolidge at 24 is sad. One of the greatest Presidents we ever had. His handling of economic affairs, temperament and his support of civil rights in the context of the time makes him my favorite.

Nixon at 31 makes me sad. As a President he was one of the greatest pure politicians to ever do it. Watergate shouldn't bring him down this much. Imagine the Republican Party today if Watergate never happened.

William Henry Harrison being this low is funny.

Trump is not a bottom 4 President. C-tier imo.

I agree except Trump, Clinton, and maybe Teddy.

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17 hours ago, vcczar said:

I find this interesting. I classify older as pre-FDR, who established the executive office of the presidency and was instrumental in initiating the sorting out of the parties—liberals make the slow move in unifying behind Democrats and conservative behind Republicans. 
 

I sometimes think of older as in presidents before I was born. That would be before Carter for me. 

FDR is definitely the cutoff for the modern day presidency. Though I find it difficult to lump all pre-FDR presidents in the same category because of the drastic differences that someone like McKinley had verses the first in office.

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11 hours ago, Timur said:

Earlier ones. (Or at least, anybody before um...1970s?)

I'll go with pre-FDR in this case then.

William Henry Harrison is the best 😛

Calvin Coolidge is way up there in my book. Washington, of course. Thomas Jefferson. James Monroe is an underrated President. James K Polk is underrated. Grover Cleveland is underrated. James Madison.

Andrew Jackson has some very good positives and some very bad negatives (as did Van Buren after him).

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3 minutes ago, jvikings1 said:

William Henry Harrison is the best 😛

 

I gave the laugh emote for this statement.

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29 minutes ago, jvikings1 said:

FDR is definitely the cutoff for the modern day presidency. Though I find it difficult to lump all pre-FDR presidents in the same category because of the drastic differences that someone like McKinley had verses the first in office.

Probably the way to break the timelines is:

  • Washington-JQ Adams
  • Jackson-Buchanan
  • Lincoln-Hoover (arguably TR could start a new breaking off point)
  • FDR-present (arguably LBJ could start a new break off point, or perhaps GHW Bush)
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