The Pew Research Center asked Americans who they thought did the best job as president in their lifetime. The top pick: former President Barack Obama.
Obama was the choice of 44 percent of the respondents in the poll, which was published Wednesday. Bill Clinton came in second with 33 percent and Ronald Reagan was third with 32 percent. Although not yet even halfway through his first term, President Donald Trump got 19 percent to place him in fourth place, ahead of both Bushes, John F. Kennedy and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
According to Pew, Obama got 20 percent at about the same point in his presidency.
The survey was conducted from June 5-12 and 2,002 people were asked to give both their first and second choices. It has an error margin of 2.6 points.
Obviously, when someone lived is key to who they think was the best president of their lifetime. For example, of those who were alive during the Kennedy administration, about a quarter chose JFK.
Millennials (born 1981 to 1996) were the most likely to choose Obama, with 62 percent naming him as their first or second choice. Reagan was the top pick for Generation X (1965 to 1980), baby boomers (1946 to 1964) and the silent generation (1928 to 1945).
Unsurprisingly, party identification was very closely tied to a person’s answer. Obama was the first or second pick of 71 percent of Democrats but only 13 percent of Republicans.
Reagan was the clear favorite among Republicans with 57 percent (12 percent among Democrats). Trump was the second pick for Republicans at 40 percent. Only 3 percent of Democrats named Trump.
Here is how our modern presidents fared overall:
- Barack Obama 44
- Bill Clinton 33
- Ronald Reagan 32
- Donald Trump 19
- George W. Bush 14
- John Kennedy 12
- George H.W. Bush 10
- Jimmy Carter 4
- Dwight Eisenhower 2
- Gerald Ford 1
- Lyndon Johnson 1
- Richard Nixon 1
- Franklin Roosevelt 1
- Harry Truman 1
