Former president Donald Trump has been named as the worst president in US history in a new YouGov poll, while his predecessor Barack Obama was voted the best.
The results of the survey, produced with The Economist, show the polarisation of US political opinions at the end of the Trump presidency and as he is facing an impeachment trial in the Senate over the Capitol insurrection.
Asked who they felt was the worst president in history, 46 per cent of respondents named Mr Trump. The survey was conducted between 6 and 9 February with almost 1,500 participants.
Mr Obama was named the worst president by 24 per cent of respondents, while former president Richard Nixon – who left office in ignominy after the Watergate scandal – was named the worst by 5 per cent of people.
Respondents in the survey were also asked who they thought was the best president in history, and here the results were much closer. Mr Obama narrowly topped the list on 18 per cent, followed by 17 per cent who voted for Abraham Lincoln. But then Mr Trump was voted as the best by 13 per cent, making him third in the list ahead of Franklin D Roosevelt.
The poll also looked at the different aspects related to Mr Trump’s impeachment trial in the wake of the Capitol riots, and the mandate was largely against him.
About 43 per cent of the participants felt he had “a lot” of responsibility for the violent siege of the Capitol that left five people dead, while 30 per cent said that he had none.
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About 41 per cent of the participants strongly approved of Mr Trump’s impeachment by the US House of Representatives, while 35 per cent strongly opposed the proceedings. And about 47 per cent believe that the US Senate should vote to convict Mr Trump for the insurrection while 42 per cent voted against it.
harpsm on February 12nd, 2021 at 14:05 UTC »
While I agree that Trump is the worst ever, this poll mostly just proves that most people don't know jack shit about US history.
Yeazelicious on February 12nd, 2021 at 14:00 UTC »
Recency bias: the survey.
very_excited on February 12nd, 2021 at 13:48 UTC »
The recency bias is definitely showing in the results of this Economist poll; while Obama was a good President, I wouldn't go so far as to say that he's the best ever. It was pretty close on the "Best President" side though:
However, this is just insulting:
While Roosevelt had a lot of issues, almost a century ago he gave us Social Security and all these social programs that are still in use today. The fact that respondents said that Trump of all people was better than him is plain insulting.