In the 2024 Presidential Greatness Survey, which is based on a poll of political scientists, Hope native Bill Clinton placed 12th, which is up two from his previous ranking in 2018. 

For its ranking of Donald J. Trump in last place among all the U.S. presidents, the survey made headlines nationally over the weekend. It listed current president Joe Biden in 14th place and Barack Obama in seventh, up one from the 2018 survey. George W. Bush placed at number 32. 

The white paper was released by Brandon Rottinghaus of the University of Houston and Justin S. Vaughn of Coastal Carolina. The introduction to the survey says 154 responded to the survey out of 525 who were requested. It also provides a description of who was asked: “Respondents included current and recent members of the Presidents & Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, which is the foremost organization of social science experts in presidential politics, as well as scholars who had recently published peer-reviewed academic research in key related scholarly journals or academic presses.” 

The top five presidents were Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson. The bottom five were William Henry Harrison, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan and Donald J. Trump. The deepest drop from 2018’s survey was Calvin Coolidge, this year’s number 34, who dropped six places. The highest climber over last year was John F. Kennedy who now sits at number ten. 

Of Bill Clinton’s placement, the authors said, “There are also several presidents where partisan polarization is evident – Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Obama, and Biden – but interestingly not for Bill Clinton.”