Obama voted best U.S. president of the past 85 years
BY LOU SIFA
In a survey that polled a sampling of 2,002 adults between 5 and 12 June, a Washington-based polling institution, the Pew Research Center, came up with the finding that former president Barack Obama has been voted the best U.S. president in recent times, with 31 percent of the people naming him the best president of their lifetime, and 13 percent naming him the second best—which amounts to an impressive score of 44 percent.
The survey, which asked the open-ended question “Which president has done the best job during your lifetime?” shows that Donald Trump has received 19 percentage points, which is exactly how much Obama scored at the same point during his first term. Thirty-three percent of the respondents viewed Bill Clinton as the best president, while 32% felt that way about Ronald Reagan.
Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson, Nixon and Ford all tied for the lowest occurrence, at 1 percent apiece.
The results are “somewhat impacted by both partisanship and recency.”
– Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.
Obama’s favorable votes came primarily from younger voters and Democrats. Sixty-two percent of millennials named him as one of the two best presidents, and 46% as the top best. Among the older generations, 45% of Gen Xers named Reagan the best president of their lifetime, immediately followed by 41% and 39% respectively who viewed Obama and Clinton the same way.
Seventy-one percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents chose Obama among the top two, with 51% ranking him the best and 20% the second best. Most Republicans picked Reagan, but not with the same enthusiasm, as 57% ranked him in the top two bracket.
In an interview broadcast on New Jersey radio 101.5, Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said the results are “somewhat impacted by both partisanship and recency. Few presidents since World War II have had a historic impact in the context of the times when they were elected.”
Murray also said that the goal of the survey was to “take the pulse of the nation on key policy and quality of life issues,” not to reach a scientific or historical consensus on who the greatest presidents in recent history are.