Best/Worst Presidents?

[vilk]

Mad Maxine is a very low IQ person.

What do you estimate her IQ to be? What's your IQ?

I've never taken an IQ test. You might say the same thing about me and absolutely no one on earth could possibly know.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

What do you estimate her IQ to be? What's your IQ?

I've never taken an IQ test. You might say the same thing about me and absolutely no one on earth could possibly know.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump...4?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet

It's in reference to this.

 

[vilk]

What an enlightening non-answer.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

What an enlightening non-answer.

You wanted an answer to something you thought I was stating as my own opinion; I pointed out that it was a reference to Trump's tweet that I thought was funny. You got your answer.

 

[vilk]

Oh, well, you wrote in the "unpopular opinions" thread as though it were your own opinion. I guess you were just copying some Trump opinions that you don't even share then? For sport? As some elaborate double-backwards bizarro trolling?

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Oh, well, you wrote in the "unpopular opinions" thread as though it were your own opinion. I guess you were just copying some Trump opinions that you don't even share then? For sport? As some elaborate double-backwards bizarro trolling?

It's just a joke. Don't take them so hard, sporto.

 

[Drew]

The self-identified democrats have him ranked in the top 10. Neither the self identified independents or republicans in the survey you cited have him in the top 10 or higher than Eisenhower. I could talk all about how that data isn't really statistically useful since there's an inherent self-selection bias with any surveys that target specific groups. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-selection_bias

Looking at the earlier 2014 survey NYT created, he barely breaks the top 20. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2015/02/13/measuring-obama-against-the-great-presidents/
from the 2014 survey:
"First, President Obama ranks 18th overall, but beneath the surface of the aggregate figures lurks evidence of significant ambivalence. For example, those who view Obama as one of the worst American presidents outnumber those who view him as one of the best by nearly a 3-1 margin. Similarly, nearly twice as many respondents view Obama as over-rated than do those who consider him under-rated. One area where there is significant expert consensus about the president, however, concerns how polarizing he is viewed as being – only George W. Bush was viewed as more a more polarizing president.

Next, Obama does not perform well on more specific dimensions of presidential greatness, often viewed as average or worse. For example, he is the midpoint in terms of both personal integrity and military skill (e.g., 10thof 19 in both categories), but falls to 11th when it comes to diplomatic skill and 13th with respect to legislative skill. Even so, when asked which president should be added as the fifth face of Mt Rushmore, Obama ties with James Madison as the 7th most popular choice.....Scholars seem to hold Barack Obama in high regard personally, but view his skills and performance as mediocre to poor. Few think of Obama as an excellent president, while many more rate his presidency quite low, with the bulk of experts appearing to give him a passing grade but not one that would get him on the Dean’s list."

From the HNN survey of historians:
https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/153229
"Barack Obama was a promising presidential candidate and possesses sterling personal leadership qualities, but his administration has merely been adequate in delivering results. "

Wait, stop the presses! You're telling me there are partisan differences in approval for a political leader?!?

I agree it's probably still too soon to weigh in on Obama's legacy, but at a bare minimum I think it's hard to argue he's worse than average, and that compared to recent presidents he's likely to be viewed as one of the better ones a decade or two down the road.

It's of course far too early to weigh in on Trump, though unless he changes course soon I'll hazard that due to the reputational damage abroad, damaged relationships with our traditional allies, his assault on traditional checks of executive power at home, and damage done to the international systems that the US worked so hard to build, that things sure aren't looking promising.

 

[wat]

1. Trump
2. Everyone else
3. Obama

 

[Randy]

Poll: Obama tops list ranking best president in Americans' lifetime

 

[Vyn]

Adding a non American perspective, Obama was your best president and Trump is looking likely to be your worst.

 

[Edika]

As another foreigner and during my lifetime I think the worst president by far is Trump. The amount of regression he has caused your country in terms of international relationships, science, social issues, common sense and reality itself is mind numbing. Whenever I hear/read one of his speeches I feel parts of my brain commit suicide in protest and soon I'll be a blathering half wit like him. I though GWB was bad. I was wrong.

 

[lewis]

Best: Trump hahaha
Worst: Trump hahahah

 

[narad]

As another foreigner and during my lifetime I think the worst president by far is Trump. The amount of regression he has caused your country in terms of international relationships, science, social issues, common sense and reality itself is mind numbing. Whenever I hear/read one of his speeches I feel parts of my brain commit suicide in protest and soon I'll be a blathering half wit like him. I though GWB was bad. I was wrong.

I was the only American in an international lab in Europe during the election. First it was teasing ("Trump's going all the way!") and it ended with ("WTF's wrong with your country!?") and a lot of lunch breaks spent repeatedly explaining the electoral college and primaries. You could just feel the respect lost for the American people :-/

 

[jaxadam]

Poll: Obama tops list ranking best president in Americans' lifetime

Poll: Obama worst President since World War II

 

[Randy]

I commend you on your use of Headline 1

 

[jaxadam]

 

[narad]

Poll: Obama worst President since World War II

I was surprised to see any unbiased poll was going to definitively rank Obama as the worst president, especially when people know so little about most of the presidents' policy in that timeframe. Actually looking at the survey reveals why: best and worst were posed as two separate questions.

The same poll places Obama as the 4th best, behind Reagan, Clinton, and Kennedy, in the best president since WWII polling. People just don't know anything about the other 8-or-so guys.

 

[narad]

In a new Quinnipiac University Poll, 33% named Obama the worst president since World War II, and 28% put Bush at the bottom of post-war presidents.

...

Ronald Reagan topped the poll as the best president since World War II, with 35%. He is followed by presidents Bill Clinton (18%) and John F. Kennedy (15%).

Obama received only 8% in the best presidents poll.

Wow! Super deceiving way of saying the best of ranking was Reagan > Clinton > Kennedy > Obama.

 

[bostjan]

Poll: Obama worst President since World War II

Updated version of the same poll from the same pollsters: https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2526

 

[Randy]

Wurst president was William Howard Taft