Quote from jficquette:
It works both ways. It took historians about 60 years before they started looking at FDR and realizing what a disaster he was.
John
What Polls are you looking at ? Most historians rank FDR as a Great President,one of the best
Lincoln ranked best president by historians
WASHINGTON â Just days after the nation honored the 200th anniversary of his birth, 65 historians ranked Abraham Lincoln as the nation's best president.
Former President George W. Bush, who left office last month, was ranked 36th out of the 42 men who had been chief executive by the end of 2008, according to a survey conducted by the cable channel C-SPAN.
Bush scored lowest in international relations, where he was ranked 41st, and in economic management, where he was ranked 40th. His highest ranking, 24th, was in the category of pursuing equal justice for all. He was ranked 25th in crisis leadership and vision and agenda setting.
In contrast, Lincoln was ranked in the top three in each of the 10 categories evaluated by participants.
In C-SPAN's only other ranking of presidents, in 2000, former President Bill Clinton jumped six spots from No. 21 to 15. Other recent presidents moved positions as well: Ronald Reagan advanced from No. 11 to 10, George H.W. Bush rose from No. 20 to 18 and Jimmy Carter fell from No. 22 to 25.
This movement illustrates that presidential reputations are influenced by present-day concerns, said survey adviser and participant Edna Medford.
"Today's concerns shape our views of the past, be it in the area of foreign policy, managing the economy or human rights," Medford said in a statement.
After Lincoln, the academics rated George Washington,
Franklin D. Roosevelt , Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman as the best leaders overall. The same five received top spots in the 2000 survey, although Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt swapped spots this year.
Rated worst overall were James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, William Henry Harrison and Warren G. Harding.
The survey was conducted in December and January. Participants ranked each president on a scale of one, "not effective" to 10, "very effective," on a list of 10 leadership qualities including relations with Congress, public persuasion and moral authority.
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ABC poll
An ABC News poll about presidential greatness, taken 16â20 February 2000, asked 1012 adults nationwide, "Who do you think was the greatest American president?"[11]
Abraham Lincoln (19%)
John F. Kennedy (17%)
Franklin Roosevelt (11%)
No opinion (10%)
Ronald Reagan (9%)
George Washington (8%)
Bill Clinton (7%)
Theodore Roosevelt (4%)
George H.W. Bush (4%)
Thomas Jefferson (3%)
Harry Truman (2%)
Richard Nixon (2%)
Jimmy Carter (1%)
Dwight Eisenhower (1%)
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Washington College poll
A Washington College poll about presidential greatness, taken 11 February 2005, asked 800 adults nationwide, "Thinking about all the presidents of the United States throughout history to the present, who would you say was America's greatest president?"[13]
Abraham Lincoln (20%)
Ronald Reagan (15%)
Franklin D. Roosevelt (12%)
John F. Kennedy (11%)
Bill Clinton (10%)
Other/Don't Know (9%)
George W. Bush (8%)
George Washington (6%)
Theodore Roosevelt (3%)
Dwight Eisenhower (3%)
Jimmy Carter (2%)
Thomas Jefferson (2%)
Richard Nixon (1%)
John Adams (<1%)
Andrew Jackson (<1%)
Lyndon Johnson (<1%)
Gallup poll
A Gallup poll about presidential greatness, taken February 9â11, 2007, asked 1006 adults nationwide, "Who do you regard as the greatest United States president?"[11]
Abraham Lincoln (18%)
Ronald Reagan (16%)
John F. Kennedy (14%)
Bill Clinton (13%)
Franklin Roosevelt (9%)
Other/None/No opinion (8%)
George Washington (7%)
Harry Truman (3%)
George W. Bush (2%)
Theodore Roosevelt (2%)
Dwight Eisenhower (2%)
Thomas Jefferson (2%)
Jimmy Carter (2%)
Gerald Ford (1%)
George H.W. Bush (1%)
Richard Nixon (0%)
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Chronological order President Schlesinger 1948 poll rank Schlesinger 1962 poll rank 1982 Murray-Blessing survey of 846 historians Chicago Tribune 1982 poll rank Siena 1982 poll rank Siena 1990 poll rank Siena 1994 poll rank Ridings- McIver 1996 poll rank CSPAN 1999 poll rank Wall Street Journal 2000 poll rank Siena 2002 poll rank Wall Street Journal 2005 poll rank CSPAN 2009 poll rank
These are his rankings from the polls above (From Winkipedia)
Franklin D. Roosevelt 03 -03 -02- 02 -01 -01 -01 -02 -02 -03 -01 03 -03