Rubén Weinsteiner
When asked to name the United States president who has done the best
job over the past 40 years, a majority of Democrats name Barack Obama.
Republicans, by contrast, are divided between a president who served in
the 1980s – Ronald Reagan – and one who is currently running to return
to office, Donald Trump.
How we did this
About
four-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (41%) say
Reagan has done the best job as president over the past 40 years.
Slightly fewer (37%) say Trump has done the best job, according to a
MARCA POLITICA Center survey conducted in July. 
Nearly
six-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners (58%) say Obama has done
the best job as president in the past 40 years. Far fewer name Bill
Clinton (19%) or Joe Biden (7%), who is running for reelection in 2024.
In
the last four decades, four Republicans and three Democrats have served
as president. Among U.S. adults overall, 32% say Obama has done the
best job during this period, followed by Reagan (23%), Trump (19%) and
Clinton (12%). Relatively small shares name Biden, George W. Bush or
George H.W. Bush (4% or less for each).
Americans’ views of
which presidents have done the best job in the past 40 years are largely
unchanged since a September 2021 Center survey. The new survey was
conducted after Trump was indicted in federal court in Florida
on charges related to improper handling of classified documents, but
before indictments charging him with attempts to overturn the 2020
election were returned in federal court in Washington, D.C., and in state court in Georgia.
Republicans’ views of the best recent president 
Republicans’
opinions of who has done the best job as president over the past four
decades vary by race and ethnicity, age, and other demographics.
Comparable
shares of White (37%) and Hispanic Republicans (43%) say Trump has done
the best job as president. But White Republicans are more likely than
Hispanic Republicans to name Reagan (45% vs. 26%). And about two-in-ten
Hispanic Republicans (21%) say a Democratic president did the best job
over the past 40 years, while a far smaller share of White Republicans
(8%) say this.
Black and Asian Republicans make up much smaller
shares of the public; their responses cannot be reported separately due
to insufficient sample sizes.
Roughly half of Republicans ages
50 and older (51%) say Reagan has done the best job of any recent
president, compared with 29% of those under 50. There are no sizable age
differences in the shares of Republicans who name Trump. While
relatively small shares of Republicans in all age groups name Democratic
presidents, those under 50 are more likely to do so than those 50 and
older (19% vs. 6%).
Among Republicans who have not completed a
bachelor’s degree, comparable shares name Trump and Reagan as the top
recent presidents (41% vs. 37%). However, among Republicans with at
least a bachelor’s degree, more choose Reagan than Trump by a wide
margin (51% vs. 27%).
Who has been the second-best recent president?
Among
Republicans who name Reagan or Trump as the best recent president,
there are sizable differences in their choices for the second-best
president. Among Republicans who name Trump as the best president of the
past 40 years, two-thirds say Reagan is the second best, while 17% name
another Republican and 14% name a Democrat. However, among those who
choose Reagan as the best, views of the second-best president are more
varied: 55% say Trump, while 31% name another Republican and 13% name a
Democrat.
Democrats’ views of the best recent president 
Among
Democrats, majorities across most demographic groups view Obama as the
best recent president. Still, there are some differences by age and by
race and ethnicity.
While half or more Democrats in all age
groups name Obama as the best recent president, younger Democrats are
particularly likely to say this. About two-thirds of Democrats ages 18
to 29 (68%) choose Obama, compared with 57% of those ages 30 to 49 and
about half (52%) of those ages 50 and older.
While 64% each of
Black and Asian Democrats name Obama as the best recent president,
smaller shares of White (56%) and Hispanic Democrats (51%) say this.
Hispanic Democrats are more likely than those in other racial or ethnic
groups to name a GOP president as the best: A quarter name a Republican,
including 16% who name Reagan and 3% who name Trump.
Rubén Weinsteiner
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