Gallup recently did a poll asking, “Who do you regard as the greatest United States President?” These were the results for the top 10 :

Ronald Reagan: 19%
Abraham Lincoln: 14%
Bill Clinton: 13%
John Kennedy: 11%
George Washington: 10%
Franklin Roosevelt: 8%
Barack Obama: 5%
Theodore Roosevelt: 3%
Harry Truman: 3%
George W. Bush: 2%

I cannot figure out why people take first-past-the-post seriously. Today I heard Chris Matthews and Cenk Uygur talk as if these rankings truly represent the opinions of those who were polled. It is as if they have no concept of vote splitting.

Reagan got 19% because people who love Reagan are extremely dogmatic. If there were a runoff between Lincoln and Reagan, Lincoln would crush Reagan.
Furthermore, If the people being polled were told to rank whom they think are the top 5 best Presidents and they used the Condorcet method to get the result, I'd wager that Washington or Lincoln would win in a landslide against anyone else. Also, there would be no way George W. Bush would crack the top Ten.

But Reagan is the greatest president... he successfully fought off socialism and integrated consumerism with democracy to create the modern consumerocracy where people's basic needs can efficiently be met and expressed by free-market forces instead of by wasteful governmental bureaucracy and "voting".

[color=#1C2837][size=2]Lincoln is the best, he held the nation together in a civil war, won it and freed the slaves, what more do you want?
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[color=#1C2837][size=2]-ddn

Washington is my favorite. He had a liquor store.

Also, there would be no way George W. Bush would crack the top Ten.

I am pretty sure that's because very few Americans could name more than 10 presidents. Even fewer who could remember their accomplishments.

"Who's your favorite President?"
"Err...gee...[not Barack Obama..]..George W Bush.."

Reagan certainly had his deficits in diplomacy and acceptance and some serious cultural issues, but apart from that he was probably the best thing to happen to his country in the entire century. He brought the economy up big time, lowered taxes (and we're not talking of a mere 2-3%), made everyone rich and happy. Admitted, he nearly led us all into World War 3 too, but hey... he got lucky, the USSR gave up before Doomsday. Nobody is perfect, and sometimes you just gotta be lucky too.

Now, Clinton on the other hand, was a president who for once made the USA worldwide acceptable. You could even go as far as saying "amicable". It's a real shame he tripped over that intern girl. Actually, for his position as a president, it shouldn't have mattered which girl he stuck his thingie into (unless she had been under age). One may sneer at a married man who does such a thing, and certainly his wife would, but I don't see how that disqualifies him as a president. Wife anger, sure. Divorce, ok, understandable. Impeachment? Ridiculous. Well, anyway, it happened... too bad.
All the good that Billie Boy had done, George W. took great care to undo immediately. George W. really wanted to make sure everyone hates the USA. He must have some big money in war funds.

So yeah, that poll with Reagan, Lincoln, and Clinton at the top is pretty real, I'd say.

Problem with this sort of informal survey is that most people will choose whomever was president at a significant time in their own life. If you ask people from the baby boomer generation, they will state unequivocally that Kennedy was the best president. Those who fought in WW II look up to whichever Roosevelt that was with the mobility impairment that chummed with English aristocrats and Russian dictators. If you choose reagan, it's probably because you don't even remember Nixon.

Roosevelt was a pretty solid one imo. Got the nation out of a depression and led us through a lot of WWII.

The qualifying question should be, who is the vice president, and what are the three branches of government? Instantly Bush and Obama go off the top ten list to be replaced with Jefferson & Madison. Lincoln and Washington become #1 and #2.

The qualifying question should be, who is the vice president, and what are the three branches of government? Instantly Bush and Obama go off the top ten list to be replaced with Jefferson & Madison. Lincoln and Washington become #1 and #2.

I'm not sure Obama would go. I feel like a lot of people think he's the best president ever, even though he hasn't really done that much; most notably college aged liberals who are all about "change." The kind of people that go to protests without knowing what they are protesting.