America’s favorite living president revealed by poll giant; It’s not even close
Gallup, a giant in opinion polling, surveyed more than 1,000 people to find out which of the five living presidents is viewed most fondly by Americans. No. 1 was far ahead of the others.
Gallup polled Americans to find out which of the five living presidents is their favorite. No. 1 was far ahead of the others. All five can be seen in this picture from former President Jimmy Carter's funeral in January at Washington National Cathedral in Washington. Joe Biden is in the front row at left. In the second row are Bill Clinton, left, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)AP
WASHINGTON – Of five living presidents, Barack Obama has the highest favorability ratings from the American people, and it’s not even close.
A recent survey by the national polling giant Gallup to determine how Americans view the five presidents – Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama, Joe Biden and Donald Trump -- found just two with favorable ratings above 50%. Two others have negative ratings of 50% or higher.
The fifth has a 7% net approval rating, with both positive and negative views in the 40s.
Gallup conducted the survey from Jan. 21-27, beginning the day after Trump’s inauguration and shortly after the Jan. 9 funeral of former president Jimmy Carter. All four other living presidents attended Trump’s inauguration. All five attended the funeral.
The survey involved telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,001 adults representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Gallup said. The sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points with a 95% confidence level.
The results were released this week.
Obama was rated best among living presidents, scoring a 59% approval rating in the survey -- seven percentage points better than the next most popular. Just 4% said they had no opinion. The remaining 36% viewed Obama negatively.
Bush, Obama’s predecessor, was the only other president among the five to top 50% for approval. He was viewed favorably by 52%. His negative rating was lower than Obama’s at 34%. Another 14% said they had no opinion.
Bill Clinton, Bush’s predecessor, also had a net favorable rating, winning approval of 48%. The survey found 41% viewed him negatively, while 12% had no opinion.
Biden, whose four years in office are sandwiched between Trump’s two terms, had the lowest approval rating at just 39%. He was viewed negatively by 57%, with just 4% having no opinion.
Trump, like Clinton, scored a 48% favorability rating. But 50% viewed him negatively. Trump also had the smallest ratings for undecided, with just 2% saying they had no opinion.
Although Trump’s ratings are about equally split between positive and negative, Gallup said they are among his best since the polling organization first measured opinions of him in 1999.
The only time Trump had a net-positive rating was in 2005, when 50% viewed him favorably and 38% saw him as unfavorable, Gallup said. That was before he entered politics and during the time when he was featured in the reality television show “The Apprentice.”
During Trump’s first term, his favorability rating was above 40% most of the time, Gallup said. It dropped to 36% right before he left office in January 2021 amid a record spike in COVID-19 infections and the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot.
Biden’s ratings are barely better than his worst evaluation since he became a well-known political figure, Gallup found. In June 2024, the favorable/unfavorable split for Biden was 37%/61%, given concerns about his issue positions and his age.
The high point in Biden’s favorability was 61% in January 2017, near the end of his vice presidency under Obama. He had a favorability rating of 59% right after his inauguration in 2021.
Gallup noted that presidential approval ratings generally tend to be highest around the time of inauguration and lowest near the end of a president’s tenure. Often they climb again after the president leaves office.
Obama is an exception to that trend, Gallup said. He had strong positive ratings near the end of his presidency that have remained since he left office.
If the trend holds for Trump and Biden, Gallup said, Trump’s favorability rating could be expected to decline over the next four years, while Biden’s low mark could improve.
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