What president has had the lowest rating in history?
Asked by: scraper | Last update: July 29, 2026Score: 0/5 (0 votes)
Historically, James Buchanan is most frequently ranked as the worst president in U.S. history by historians and scholars due to his failure to prevent the Civil War. In modern expert surveys, Donald Trump is also widely ranked at or near the very bottom, while Harry S. Truman holds the record for the lowest historical job approval rating at 22%.
Who has the lowest presidential rating?
Harry S. Truman holds the record for the lowest recorded presidential approval rating in modern history, dropping to 22% in February 1952.
What was Donald Trump's approval rating for the first term?
Donald Trump’s approval rating during his first term (2017–2021) averaged approximately 41% to 44%. Throughout his entire first four years, his ratings remained underwater, with his disapproval numbers consistently higher than his approval numbers, according to historical polling averages.
What presidents are ranked by popularity?
Public popularity and historical greatness are measured either by ongoing public favorability or academic expert polls.
What was Bill Clinton's approval rating?
Bill Clinton left the presidency with a 66% job approval rating, the highest exit rating for any departing U.S. president since Truman. Throughout his two terms (1993–2001), he maintained an average approval rating of 55%, with an administration high of 73% during his impeachment proceedings in late 1998.
Poll: Trump begins his presidency with the lowest initial approval rating in history
What was Obama's presidential approval rating?
Barack Obama finished his presidency with an overall average job approval rating of 47.9%. Over his two terms, his approval was highly polarized, hovering primarily in the mid-to-high 40s for most of his time in office before rising to 59% by the end of his final term.
Where does Trump rank on the list of presidents?
President Donald Trump consistently ranks at or near the absolute bottom of U.S. presidents in major academic surveys of historians and political scientists.
Who was the best president of all time in the United States?
Abraham Lincoln has taken the highest ranking in each survey and George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Theodore Roosevelt have always ranked in the top five while James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Franklin Pierce have been ranked at the bottom of all four surveys.
Which president was never actually elected?
Gerald Ford is the only U.S. president in history who was never elected to the presidency or the vice presidency.
What was Biden's approval rating in the first 6 months?
To navigate between years, see opinion polling on the Joe Biden administration. For 2022 opinion polling, see 2022 opinion polling on the Biden administration. Biden's average approval rating was generally over 50% in the first 6 months of his presidency.
What was George Bush's approval rating?
George W. Bush left office with an average approval rating of 49.4% and a final approval rating of 34%, alongside a 61% disapproval rating.
What is Trump?
"Trump" primarily refers to Donald J. Trump, the 45th and 47th President of the United States. A businessman, media personality, and prominent Republican politician, he returned to the White House to serve a second non-consecutive term.
Which president had the lowest approval rating in the first 100 days?
Donald Trump recorded the lowest approval rating for any president in their first 100 days, hovering around 39% to 41% in public polls during both his first term and his second term.
What was Reagan's approval rating?
President Ronald Reagan averaged a 53% job approval rating during his two terms in office (1981–1989), slightly below the historical average for modern U.S. presidents. Throughout his presidency, his ratings fluctuated based on economic conditions and political events:
What is the average polling rating of Trump?
At the time when Donald Trump began his second term, his approval rating was 47%, the second lowest approval rating at the start of a presidential term in polling history, second only to his first term. Throughout 2025 to 2026, Trump's approval rating has steadily declined to an average of 37 to 40%.
What president was elected twice but not in a row?
Grover Cleveland and Donald Trump are the only two U.S. presidents in history to serve two non-consecutive terms.
Who became president without running?
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr.
(born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977.
Has a VP ever resigned?
Yes, two U.S. Vice Presidents have resigned from office in American history:
What is Obama's rating as president?
Historical rankings from experts place Barack Obama anywhere between the 7th7 raised to the th power7th and 12th12 raised to the th power12th best U.S. president. In the authoritative Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey, Obama ranked 7th7 raised to the th power7th overall. Meanwhile, in C-SPAN's comprehensive survey on presidents, he ranked 10th10 raised to the th power10th overall, improving upon his previous 12th12 raised to the th power12th-place standing.
Who is the billionaire president?
Donald Trump is the only billionaire to have served as President of the United States. His fortune comes from real estate, his stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, and various licensing and cryptocurrency ventures, with an estimated net worth in the billions.
What president had the highest approval rating?
George W. Bush holds the highest recorded presidential approval rating in U.S. history at 90%. This record was established in a Gallup Poll conducted in September 2001, following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Who was the only U.S. president unanimously elected?
Washington was essentially unopposed in the 1792 election, and was unanimously re-elected president with 132 electoral votes. He remains the only U.S. president to be unanimously elected.
What presidents were ranked by intelligence?
Historical estimates, such as psychologist Dean Simonton's widely cited rankings, assess presidential intelligence via estimated IQ scores and historical achievements.
Which U.S. president won a Nobel Prize?
Four U.S. presidents have received the Nobel Peace Prize: