Historians Rank Donald Trump Worst U.S. President Again, with Biden in 14th Place

Mar. 15, 2025

Historians have again namedDonald Trumpas theworst president in U.S. history, placing him 45th out of all the former American presidents in a new poll.

The poll surveys 154 presidential historians who are current and recent members of the American Political Science Association. Each respondent was asked to grade current and former presidents on 10 characteristics, including administrative skills, moral authority and economic management.

Abraham Lincoln came out on top among scholars as the nation’s greatest president, with University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus saying in arelease, “As presidential scholars reassess the impact of the modern presidency from administrative and cultural standpoints, we see significant shifts over time in what constitutes presidential greatness."

Current PresidentJoe Bidenranked 14th in his first appearance on the list, with a rating of 62.7/100 — higher thanBarack Obama’s first rating in 2015 (58.2) and dramatically higher than Trump’s first rating in 2018 (13.0).

Trump came in last, and was also put last in the same survey released in 2018. He has since technically moved down on the list (from 44th to 45th place), but only because Biden was added.

“In the first post-Trump survey, we see a significant bump for recent Democratic presidents with each one moving up in the rankings while each of the recent Republican presidents dropped down, with the exception of President Trump who remained at the bottom of the rankings,” Coastal Carolina University political science professor Justin Vaughn said in the release.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden at a presidential debate in 2020.Scott Olson / Getty Images

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Trump did get top marks in one category, though, ranking number one among “most polarizing” presidents.

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Trump, who lost both the popular and electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election, is again running for office and remains the front-runner for the Republican nomination.

Since leaving office, he has been mired in legal issues on various fronts.

Four investigations into the former presidenthave led to indictments, including the first, which made himthe only U.S. president to face criminal charges.

The next two, meanwhile, further distinguished him as the only president to face federal charges.

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Last week, acourt ordered him to pay $355 million as a penalty for fraud. In a92-page rulingfollowing a lengthy civil trial, Judge Arthur Engoron barred Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporations or legal entities for three years. It also restricted him and the Trump Organization from applying for loans from New York-chartered financial institutions during the same time frame.

The ruling came just three weeks after a New York juryordered Trump to pay $83.3 millionin damages to formerEllecolumnistE. Jean Carrollfor defamatory statements he made about her in 2019.

source: people.com