Trump is the worst

1. Historical rankings: scholars and experts place Trump among the weakest

Multiple expert surveys conducted by historians and political scientists place Trump at or near the bottom of presidential rankings, with one multi-year project scoring him as the worst overall in its 2024 edition at 10.92 out of 100 and other scholarly polls putting him in the lowest positions among presidents assessed ^[1]. The C‑SPAN Survey of Presidential Leadership — a repeat academic exercise used to compare presidents on ten leadership qualities — and the Presidential Greatness Project have both reflected poor showings for Trump in these formal expert evaluations, which focus on criteria like moral authority, crisis leadership and relations with Congress ^{[3] [1]}.

2. Public approval paints a mixed but often negative picture

Public opinion polling across multiple firms shows consistent periods of net negative approval for Trump: Ballotpedia tracked prolonged negative approval spreads during his first term and daily poll averages throughout his presidency and comeback ^[2], while Gallup recorded him as one of the lowest-rated new presidents in modern history and later reported lows of 34–37 percent in different periods of his tenure ^{[4] [6]}. Major news organizations and trackers such as The New York Times and The Economist documented historically low starts to his terms and downward trends in approval, even as specific polls at points showed higher or more favorable numbers depending on timing and sampling ^{[7] [5]}.

3. Partisan resilience complicates blanket judgments

Despite weak approval numbers in many national polls, Trump’s core supporters have shown high retention: conservative outlets and some analyses point to stability among his base — one Wall Street Journal–cited result noted very high retention among his 2024 supporters — and tracker data often show sharp partisan splits in evaluations of his performance ^{[8] [5]}. Polling organizations such as Reuters/Ipsos, Morning Consult and others reported varying approval levels in late 2025 and early 2026, underscoring that labeling a president "the worst" in public opinion terms depends heavily on which polls and demographics are emphasized ^{[9] [10]}.

4. Contemporary polling and consequences: recent second-term lows

Coverage from late 2025 into early 2026 recorded second‑term approval declines that in some trackers reached new lows for that term, with Newsweek and Gallup documenting net disapproval margins in double digits and specific surveys showing 40–45 percent approval amid concerns about use of presidential power and policy impacts ^{[11] [6]}. The Economist’s tracker described a downward trend in his second term that began with a near‑neutral net approval and moved into negative territory as contentious policies and crises accumulated ^[5].

5. Verdict and limits: worst by scholarship and many polls, but not uncontested

On institutional measures of presidential effectiveness and in multiple scholarly surveys, Trump rates among the weakest presidents assessed — a defensible basis to call him "one of the worst" in expert judgment ^{[1] [3]}. On public‑opinion grounds, however, the picture is more contested: long-run polling and many mainstream trackers show unfavorable or low approval at key moments ^{[2] [4] [6]}, yet strong partisan retention and variable poll results mean the blanket statement "Trump is the worst" depends on the metric used and who is asked ^{[8] [5]}. This analysis is limited to available polling and ranking data; other measures (policy outcomes, legal history, comparative international impact) would require additional sources beyond those provided.