C-SPAN marked President’s Day by updating its Historians Presidential Leadership Survey from 2000. I found it pretty interesting. Click here to see a better compilation of the results with some interaction available and a list of historians involved:
President 2009 Score 2009 Rank 2000 Rank
Abraham Lincoln 902 1 1
George Washington 854 2 3
Franklin D. Roosevelt 837 3 2
Theodore Roosevelt 781 4 4
Harry S. Truman 708 5 5
John F. Kennedy 701 6 8
Thomas Jefferson 698 7 7
Dwight D. Eisenhower 689 8 9
Woodrow Wilson 683 9 6
Ronald Reagan 671 10 11
Lyndon B. Johnson 641 11 10
James K. Polk 606 12 12
Andrew Jackson 606 13 13
James Monroe 605 14 14
Bill Clinton 605 15 21
William McKinley 599 16 15
John Adams 545 17 16
George H. W. Bush 542 18 20
John Quincy Adams 542 19 19
James Madison 535 20 18
Grover Cleveland 523 21 17
Gerald R. Ford 509 22 23
Ulysses S. Grant 490 23 33
William Howard Taft 485 24 24
Jimmy Carter 474 25 22
Calvin Coolidge 469 26 27
Richard M. Nixon 450 27 25
James A. Garfield 445 28 29
Zachary Taylor 443 29 28
Benjamin Harrison 442 30 31
Martin Van Buren 435 31 30
Chester A. Arthur 420 32 32
Rutherford B. Hayes 409 33 26
Herbert Hoover 389 34 34
John Tyler 372 35 36
George W. Bush 362 36 NA
Millard Fillmore 351 37 35
Warren G. Harding 327 38 38
William Henry Harrison 324 39 37
Franklin D. Pierce 287 40 39
Andrew Johnson 258 41 40
James Buchanan 227 42 41
Enjoy!
Don'stuff 
Bill Clinton jumped more than most. And W. probably dragged his dad down a few! Interesting.
All the movement after nine years was interesting. It’s interesting how their place in history can be changed depending on the time in history or the people making the decisions.
Very interesting stuff. Its fascinating to me that the #1 president was in power during our country’s darkest days. A country at war with itself – does it get any darker? Several presidents have come in under difficult circumstances. None like that. Quite a testament to the man.
and the bottom two were on either side of him.
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Abraham Lincoln big Fan 🙂
Great man!
Who gets to vote and what criteria is used?
This is like the Nielson ratings. I never get asked about any of this stuff and it’s starting to get me a little ticked off! 🙂
I can’t believe you haven’t been asked.
Surprised Geo W is not a bit closer to Buchanan on the bottom!
Maybe with time…
I think almost all presidents have been too partisan to preside effectively. …except Washington. Maybe Andrew Jackson and Lincoln too.