We recently conducted our own survey on the website asking American voters who they
regard as the worst President in US history. The survey was inspired by
the recent Gallup
organization survey outlining the
"greatest" Presidents
according to Americans. We surveyed 955 respondents, and all results
were adjusted for the division of
Democrats (34%), Independents, (31%),
and
Republicans (34%) in the United States.
Overall:
At first glance, the idea that George W. Bush is considered the worst
President in US history seems to have overwhelming support, but there
are two mitigating factors here:
The current President is always
more likely to receive more negative attention that they might years
after they are out of office.
Democrats and Independents are much
more unified in their anti-Bush sentiment, while the Republicans are
much more diverse in terms of their choice for "worst" President,
which eats away at the relative percentages that the other past
Presidents received.
Results According to Party Affiliation:
Note: Only Presidents receiving more than
1% shown.
Democrats
Independents
Republicans:
As we can see from the above graphs, George W. Bush are the Democrats'
and Independents' choices for worst President, while Jimmy Carter,
followed by Bill Clinton are the Republicans' choices. A few interesting
notes:
Although the Democrats are quite
consolidated in their opposition to George W. Bush, Bill Clinton is
their second choice for worst President, which is the same place
that Bill Clinton holds on the Republicans' list, although clearly
in a more significant percentage.
The Republicans are much less unified
than the other two parties against any particular President, with
three Presidents receiving more than 10% of the vote, and all six in
the above graph receiving more than 5%.
The most recent Democratic (Clinton)
and Republican (current - W. Bush) Presidents are both listed by
their respective parties as on the list of worst Presidents.
