--- title: Donald Trump Last in Presidential Greatness: Historians description: Just in time for Presidents' Day, a new survey of historians puts President Donald Trump in dead last place. Barack Obama is eighth. canonical: https://time.com/5165686/donald-trump-last-place-presidential-greatness/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-19T23:11:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:59:17.240Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Ranks Last in 'Presidential Greatness,' According to Historians og:description: Obama moved up to eighth place og:url: https://time.com/5165686/donald-trump-last-place-presidential-greatness/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt206d0ab0236f09bd/6989283097cdff52cf6b4627/donald-trump-least-great-president.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4848 og:image:height: 2727 og:image:alt: President Trump Addresses The Nation In His First State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Ranks Last in 'Presidential Greatness,' According to Historians twitter:description: Obama moved up to eighth place twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt206d0ab0236f09bd/6989283097cdff52cf6b4627/donald-trump-least-great-president.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Ranks Last in 'Presidential Greatness,' According to Historians > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f840957e-7dba-4e38-bab6-475e6564d542&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Here Are the Promises President Trump Kept and Broke in His First Year [Watch (HLS stream): Here Are the Promises President Trump Kept and Broke in His First Year](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aVz1krc8.m3u8) (2:11)  _Published 2018-01-20. Donald Trump was elected president after a campaign of bold promises. Voters responded to his sweeping assurances on everything from health care to immigration and his overall pledge to Make America Great Again._ by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Feb 19, 2018 11:11 PM UTC by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Feb 19, 2018 11:11 PM UTC [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/5165488/donald-trump-gun-background-checks/) is not afraid to talk himself up – but presidential historians don’t think he’s so great. Just in time for [Presidents’ Day](http://time.com/money/4219493/presidents-day-sales-best-deals/), a survey of 170 presidential historians puts Trump in dead last place – behind even James Buchanan, whom many historians blame for failing to stop the Civil War. [Presidents & Executive Politics Presidential Greatness survey,](https://sps.boisestate.edu/politicalscience/files/2018/02/Greatness.pdf) conducted by University of Houston professor Brandon Rottinghaus and Boise State University professor Justin S. Vaughn, polled current and recent members of the Presidents & Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association and asked them to grade each president. Trump’s first time on the list knocked Buchanan out of last place.[ President Barack Obama](http://time.com/5160791/obama-florida-school-shooting/) jumped up ten places in rank since the last survey was conducted in 2014. President Abraham Lincoln topped the list once again with George Washington, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson rounding out the top five, similar to the 2014 survey. The findings were relatively consistent across political party affiliation and ideology, as well. Trump, Buchanan and William Henry Harrison ranked the lowest. The survey also found that Trump was considered the “most polarizing” president. He also he ranked in the bottom five among all categories of respondents including Republican, Democrats, independents, liberals, conservatives and moderates. A sampling of the results below: ## Greatest presidents 1. Abraham Lincoln 2. George Washington 3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt 4. Theodore Roosevelt 5. Thomas Jefferson ## Least great presidents 1. Donald Trump 2. James Buchanan 3. William Henry Harrison 4. Franklin Pierce 5. Andrew Johnson ## Ranking recent presidents * Donald Trump – 44th * Barack Obama – 8th * George W. Bush – 30th * Bill Clinton – 13th * George H.W. Bush – 17th * Ronald Reagan – 9th ## Transcript Donald Trump's first year in the Oval Office was a whirlwind. But now that the dust has settled, it's becoming more clear what mattered. As a political novice with a hot Twitter finger, Trump created a steady stream of controversies Occasionally derailing his political agenda. But he also had some wins. The achievement that will likely last the longest is the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who filled a seat held open by Senate Republicans throughout 2016. On the legislative front, his biggest achievement was the passage of a $ 1. 5 trillion tax cut that reduced corporate rates, Lowered tax rates for the wealthy and doubled the standard deduction used by many taxpayers. When you think you haven't heard this expression, but we are making America great again. You haven't heard that, have you? But Republicans in Congress failed repeatedly in their long- held goal of repealing the Affordable Care Act. On this vote, the yeas are 45, the nays are 55. The amendment is not agreed to. Agreed to. Settling at the end of the year for repealing the individual insurance mandate as part of the tax bill. When the individual mandate is being repealed, that means Obamacare is being repealed. On foregin policy, Trump's major achievements involved undoing the work of his predecessor President Obama. He withdrew from negotiations over the Trans- Pacific Partnership, a trade pact with Asia. Great thing for the American worker, what we just did. Just did. And left the Paris Climate Agreement, making the US the only country not to sign. So we're getting out, but we will start to negotiate and we will see if we can make a deal that's fair. And if we can, that's great. And if we can't, that's fine. He also recognized Jerusalm as the capitol of Israel. Real. A controversial move that could make it harder for the US to act as a broker in peace negotiations. This is nothing, more or less, than a recognition of reality. The Trump administration also made strides at undoing rules and regulations on everyithing from drilling in the Arctic to protecting transgender students to guaranteeing net neutrality. But Trump's reliance on executive orders and internal rule- making Making also leaves that part of his legacy vulnerable to reversal by the next Democratic president. 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