How Trump's Ranking of Best Presidents Compares to America's

A new poll from YouGov reveals how President Donald Trump’s ranking of the best American presidents matches up with the view of the American public. In a post on Truth Social in August, Trump shared his ranking of U.S.

presidents. He placed himself in a lone category of “The greatest,” above Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom he identified as great.

Trump also shared a “failures” tier in the ranking, which included former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama. The American public’s opinion, though, diverges from the presidents. The YouGov poll was split into three categories: “The consensus greats,” “Modern presidents, mixed reviews,” and “The most negatively rated.”

Trump featured as the most negatively rated president. 48 percent of respondents classified him as a failure, 10 percent said he was below average and 8 percent identified him as average. Twenty percent classified Trump as great, and 10 percent as near great.

Four percent were not sure. Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment outside of regular working hours. Three presidents were featured in the most negatively rated category.

Next to Trump was former President Joe Biden, who 35 percent classified as a failure, 15 percent said was below average, and 26 percent said was average. 10 percent said he was great, and 11 percent said he was near great. Four percent were unsure.

Rounding out the top three was former President Richard Nixon, who 28 percent of respondents said was a failure, 21 percent said was below average and 24 percent said was average. 5 percent of respondents said Nixon was great, 10 percent said near great, and 12 percent were unsure. How Trump and the American Public’s Rankings Compare The biggest divergence in the ranking is where Trump himself sits.

The “great” tier of Trump’s ranking featured Lincoln, Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt. All three featured in “The consensus greats” sections of the YouGov poll ranking.

Lincoln sat at the top of the ranking with 57 percent viewing him as great, and 24 percent viewing him as near great. Washington came in second, with 52 and 22 percent, respectively. FDR held the fifth position with 34 and 28 percent.

In the YouGov poll, John F. Kennedy sat in third place with 37 percent of respondents describing him as great and 31 percent of respondents describing him as near great. Theodore Roosevelt came in fifth with 32 percent of respondents describing him as great and 30 percent of respondents describing him as near great.

Trump ranked Roosevelt in the “near great” category, while Kennedy did not feature in his ranking. YouGov’s poll showed that modern presidents had received mixed reviews. The ranking of Bill Clinton overlapped somewhat with Trump’s – Clinton was identified as great by 11 percent of respondents and near great by 20; 33 percent of respondents classified him as average, the largest share, and 11 percent ranked him as a failure.

Trump put Clinton in the “average” section of his ranking. Aside from that, though, the mixed reviews diverged from Trump’s ranking. George H.

W. and George W. Bush both came in the mixed section with 41 and 36 percent of respondents classifying them as average, respectively.

But neither appeared in Trump’s ranking. Meanwhile, Jimmy Carter featured in the mixed section and was classified as great by 14 percent of respondents and near great by 18 percent. 27 percent of respondents classified him as average, and 13 percent said he was a failure.

However, Carter was placed in Trump’s “failure” tier for his ranking. The poll was conducted among 2,175 U.S.

adult citizens between September 1 and 6. The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3 percent. Trump Ranks as Most Negatively Rated President as Approval Rating Plummets Trump’s ranking as the most negatively rated president comes as his overall approval rating has plummeted, with the 2026 midterm elections looming.

A recent poll from the Associated Press and NORC at the University of Chicago showed 31 percent of respondents approved of how Trump is handling his job as president, while 69 percent disapproved, a figure that marks his lowest in either of his presidential terms. At the start of his second term, Trump had a 50.5 percent approval rating and 44.

3 percent disapproval, but his approval rating has steadily slipped since. Civiq’s rolling tracking poll of registered voters, captured as of October 7, shows that the president is underwater in 39 states and every major battleground state. Civiq puts the president’s approval at 34 percent next to a 60 percent disapproval.

In a statement to Newsweek, shared last week in response to approval rating polls, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said: “No one can dispute the fact that President Trump has created one of the most robust coalitions in political history with the MAGA movement, and the President understands how to communicate with them. President Trump is the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party, and he is committed to maintaining Republican majorities in Congress. What Happens Next America will go to the polls for the 2026 midterm elections on November 3.

Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Rebecca Flood and Gray R.

Thomas