Is trump considered one of the worse presidents of all time?
Executive summary
Professional surveys of historians and presidential scholars routinely place Donald J. Trump near the bottom of modern rankings—often in the last quintile or lower—so by the standards used in academic “greatness” tallies he is widely considered one of the worst presidents in U.S. history [1] [2] [3]. That judgment rests on repeated expert polls that weigh crisis leadership, moral authority, administrative skill and related categories, though methodological choices and political context produce debate and leave room for alternate perspectives [4] [5].
1. Scholarly rankings put Trump near the bottom
Major expert surveys released since his presidency place Trump consistently low: the C‑SPAN 2021 Presidential Historians Survey ranked him 41st out of 44 presidents evaluated at that time [1] [2] [4], the Siena College Research Institute lists him among the “worst five” in its expert polls [3], and some academic projects have placed him at or near the very bottom in APSA/Presidential Greatness Project tallies [6] [7].
2. Why experts score him poorly: categories and evidence
Historians and political scientists use multi‑category rating systems—public persuasion, crisis leadership, economic management, moral authority, administrative skills, relations with Congress and performance in historical context—and Trump scored particularly low on moral authority and administrative skills while scoring higher on public persuasion in some polls; those imbalances pull his aggregate rank downward [4] [8]. Commentators and survey participants also cite institutional norms and the “weakening of the presidential office” as factors behind low expert scores [8].
3. Repeated patterns across independent polls
The consistency matters: different organizations using distinct panels and methods—C‑SPAN, Siena, APSA/Presidential Greatness Project and others—have nonetheless converged on placing Trump in the lower tier, which strengthens the claim that his standing among scholars is unusually poor relative to most modern presidents [1] [3] [6]. Even outlets that contextualize rankings note that Trump was not universally judged the absolute worst, but he often landed within the bottom handful of presidents [2] [4].
4. Methodological caveats and alternative interpretations
Rankings depend on who is asked and what they prioritize: surveys skew toward academic historians and political scientists who tend to be older and majority white and male, a fact scholars acknowledge can shape outcomes and produce “conventionalist” assessments that highlight institutional norms and long‑term governance standards [5]. Some historians argue Trump’s foreign‑policy moves—particularly on China—may be reassessed over time and could lead to a more favorable placement in future reckonings [5]. Public opinion and partisanship, which many of the cited expert surveys do not measure in the same way, often differ markedly from scholarly rankings; the sources provided do not comprehensively chart popular views.
5. Events and facts that feed historians’ judgments
Scholars’ low appraisals reference concrete elements documented in contemporary coverage and academic surveys: Trump was the first president to be impeached twice, a historical milestone that factors into assessments of moral authority and institutional impact [8], and expert polls repeatedly scored him last or near last on categories tied to presidential norms and administrative competence [4] [3]. Those measurable facts, coupled with aggregated expert evaluations, explain why many academic rankings treat him as among the worst in U.S. presidential history.
Conclusion
By the metric that historians and presidential scholars use—repeated expert surveys using multi‑category scoring—Donald Trump is indeed regarded as one of the worse U.S. presidents, frequently placed in the bottom tier or bottom five of historical rankings [1] [3] [6]. That consensus among specialists is robust across multiple independent polls, but it exists alongside differing partisan and public perspectives and is sensitive to the questions, timeframes, and demographics of the survey panels—limits the sources acknowledge [5] [4].