The High 25 Presidents in US Historical past, Based on Historians

• Almost 100 historians and biographers rated previous commanders in chief on 10 management qualities.
• Abraham Lincoln was voted one of the best US president.
• Donald Trump did not make the highest 25 — he is No. 41.

Historians agree: Abraham Lincoln was one of the best US president.

For C-SPAN’s most up-to-date Presidential Historians Survey, performed in 2021, practically 100 historians and biographers rated the previous US presidents.

The 2021 Presidential Historians Survey, which was launched after Donald Trump’s first time period within the White Home, measured 10 qualities of presidential management: public persuasion, disaster management, financial administration, ethical authority, worldwide relations, administrative expertise, relations with Congress, imaginative and prescient, pursued equal justice for all, and efficiency inside the context of his occasions.

Scores in every class have been then averaged, and the ten classes got equal weighting in figuring out the presidents’ whole scores.

After his first time period, Donald Trump did not make the highest 25 — he ranked at No. 41. Jimmy Carter additionally missed the highest 25, coming in at No. 26.

C-SPAN usually releases its Presidential Historians Survey after a sitting president’s time period. The 2021 survey didn’t embrace Joe Biden since he was nonetheless in workplace when it was performed.

Nevertheless, a C-SPAN spokesperson advised Enterprise Insider that the 2025 survey, which might have included Biden, has been postponed.

“Upon session with our survey’s advisory group of historians, C-SPAN has determined to postpone this cycle’s presidential management survey,” Robin Newton, C-SPAN’s media relations specialist, advised Enterprise Insider. “The consensus is that with a former president returning to workplace, conducting the survey now would flip it from historic evaluation to punditry.”

A distinct presidential survey referred to as the Presidential Greatness Mission additionally ranked Lincoln as one of the best president, adopted by Franklin D. Roosevelt at No. 2 and Washington at No. 3. Printed in 2024 by Professor Brandon Rottinghaus from the College of Houston and Professor Justin S. Vaughn from Coastal Carolina College, the mission surveyed 154 members of the American Political Science Affiliation and different political students. The Presidential Greatness Mission ranked Biden at 14th and Trump in final place at forty fifth.

Listed below are the highest 25 presidents, in line with historians surveyed by C-SPAN. The total listing will be discovered right here.