A new poll revealing how Americans view 20 of their presidents has shown Donald Trump and Joe Biden to be among the most polarising leaders in the nation’s history. A YouGov survey of 2,255 US citizens, carried out between February 2-5, saw the two latest residents of The White House attracting the highest number of ‘poor’ performance ratings, while Abraham Lincoln emerged as the most popular. (Picture: Getty Images)
The data shows a definite recency bias, with Trump and his predecessor Biden both landing in the bottom five for performance, while more historic figures were more likely to be viewed favourably. These results indicate that in today’s hyper-partisan climate, the only thing Americans can agree on is that they can’t agree on anything at all.
Despite how divisive his leadership remains, Trump still manages to retain Republican support with an NPR report recently indicating that 85% of the party are pleased with how he’s currently doing. The poll highlighted only three presidents who were viewed as outstanding or above average by those polled: Abraham Lincoln (74%), John F. Kennedy (66%), and George Washington (65%). (Picture: AP)
By contrast, more than half (55%) categorised Trump’s performance as poor — landing him rock bottom of the list. The New York Times revealed that we have now passed the threshold whereby Trump’s approval rating has dipped lower than this stage of his first term in power. Trump scored net approval rating of -20% overall in the poll, while highlighting a stark partisan split between those who identify as Republican (+70) and those who vote Democrat (-91). (Picture: REUTERS)
After Donald Trump, Joe Biden was the lowest rated president, followed by Richard Nixon. Overwhelmingly the poll saw recent presidents as having more detractors in comparison to earlier ones. Upon leaving office in 2025, Newsweek revealed that Biden had the lowest approval rating since his then successor and predecessor Donald Trump. (Picture: AP)
Biden initially started his presidency with an approval rating of 57% and this remained steady until his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan in 2021, at which point polls showed the tide started to turn for the president. This shift was a result of errors within the withdrawal and as a result his rating failed to reach over 50% again. (Picture: Getty Images)
On the other end of the spectrum, it isn’t difficult to see why so many Americans classified Abraham Lincoln as an ‘outstanding’ president. His role in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation declared that slaves in confederate owned land were to be freed, whilst the thirteenth amendment meant that slavery was then abolished entirely. Other well received presidents in the poll include George Washington, John F Kennedy and Theodore Roosevelt. (Picture: Getty Images)
The highest rated president in recent times is Barack Obama who was scored as outstanding by 25% of those taking part. Obama’s key moments in office included establishing The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) aimed at making healthcare more accessible, introducing Wall Street reform and the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. (Picture: Getty Images)
The YouGov poll also ranked 11 first ladies, which paint a very different picture to the first poll with Jacqueline Kennedy coming out on top. Known for redefining the ‘first lady’, she was the third youngest first lady at the time and the first to hire a press secretary. The positive perception American’s had of Jackie only fueled the support of her husband JFK.(Picture: Bettmann Archive)
The opinions of the first ladies are generally directly proportional to those of their husbands, for instance Nancy and Ronald Reagan (+25 vs. +22), Michelle and Barack Obama (+21 vs. +15), and Melania and Donald Trump (-16 vs. -20). The only instance in which a first lady received a lower net rating than their husband was with Hilary Clinton who scored -17 compared to -3 for Bill Clinton. (Picture: Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
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