Would you help me create a serious Worst President Poll?

Would you help me create a worst President's Poll that is serious in nature?

Here is a list of some of our presidents:

James Polk
Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Franklin Pierce
James Buchanan
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S Grant
Rutherford B Hayes
James Garfield
Chester Arthur
Grover Cleveland
Benjamin Harrison
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
William Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Warren Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D Roosevelt
Dwight D Eisenhower
Lyndon B Johnson
Gerald Ford

This isn't all of the presidents but I will try to get an exhaustive list so that we can work on it together.

thanks,

vasuderatorrent

 

Here is an exhaustive list

George Washington
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
John Quincy Adams
Andrew Jackson
Martin Van Buren
William Harrison
John Tyler
James Polk
Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Franklin Pierce
James Buchanan
Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S Grant
Rutherford B Hayes
James A Garfield
Chester Arthur
Grover Cleveland (Served two non-consecutive terms)*
Benjamin Harrison
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
William Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Warren Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D Roosevelt
Harry S Truman
Dwight D Eisenhower
John F Kennedy
Lyndon B Johnson
Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George H Bush
Bill Clinton
George W Bush
Barrack Obama

Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms. That is why the list contains 43 names instead of 44. He was not listed twice on this list.

 

These four names might need to be added to the new poll:

Franklin D Roosevelt
James Buchanan
John Tyler
Warren G Harding

These four names might need to be kept for the new poll:

Barrack Obama
George W Bush
Richard Nixon
Ronald Reagan

I am only basing this on information gathered from the other poll that was started by Kreitleinn. The last four names are getting a lot of votes. The top four names that I mentioned were mentioned in Kreitleinn's thread by posters who were disappointed that those Presidents weren't listed.

Does anybody agree/disagree with any of these 8 names as candidates for the worse president ever?

 

Only one is the worst, Barack Hussein Obama.

 

See what you are in for vasuderatorrent!? Good luck!

 

Naturally I would have to include George W Bush and Barrack H Obama. I just think the other 8 should be chosen based upon their negative merits rather than stacking the deck to make Bush or Obama the obvious choice.

Does that make any sense?

 

These are probably the top candidates.

Barack Obama
George W. Bush
Ronald Reagan
Jimmy Carter
Richard Nixon
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
Ulysses S. Grant
Andrew Jackson
Other

 

I really like the list. It seems like you were very thoughtful with your selection of candidates.

I am curious about why you chose Ulysses Grant and Andrew Jackson.

Was Andrew Jackson added because he was impeached? If we use that standard then we must include Clinton too. As you can see that in the existing poll nobody has voted for Clinton as the worst president. I think it would be asinine to include Clinton simply because he was impeached. If we use that as the logic then Andrew Jackson shouldn't be included either based on that factor alone.

I really like your list and understand your reasoning. I'm slightly curious about Ulysses S grant and Andrew Jackson.

 

Andrew Johnson was the one who got inpeached. My original list included him, but I opted for Andrew Jackson instead.

Jackson founded the Democratic Party, which would probably be enough to get some people to vote for him. He was responsible for the Indian Removal Act, and his efforts to expand the power of the presidency may have contributed to the modern Imperial Presidency.

Ulysses S. Grant was plagued by scandals throughout his presidency, which is why I put him on there.

 

To me and others like me... but there are very few of us here.

 

Richard Nixon? http://www.usnews.com/news/special-...2/17/worst-presidents-richard-nixon-1969-1974

- - - Updated - - -

Herbert Hoover? http://www.usnews.com/news/special-reports/the-worst-presidents/articles/2014/12/17/worst-presidents-herbert-hoover-1929-1933

 

William Harrison? http://www.usnews.com/news/special-.../12/17/worst-presidents-william-harrison-1841

 

Ulysses S Grant? http://www.usnews.com/news/special-...17/worst-presidents-ulysses-s-grant-1869-1877

 

John Tyler? http://www.usnews.com/news/special-...4/12/17/worst-presidents-john-tyler-1841-1845

 

My prediction this will turn into nothing but a "lets insult Obama" thread

 

I think Obama or Bush would win any poll about the worst presidents. The logic is that people would be unwilling to vote for the real worst President out of fear that Obama will win if they don't vote for Bush. The same goes for Bush lovers. They will vote for Obama instead of the worst President out of fear that Bush will win if they don't vote for Obama.

I probably need to make a poll that totally excludes Bush and Obama. However, that would make the discussion a lot less interesting.

 

I am leaning towards Warren Harding, Ulysses S Grant or John Tyler.

There are some similarities between Obama and Harding.

 

Is there any criteria for making that judgement, or are we just talking about a popularity poll?





​

 

you only need one name G.W. Bush

 

Rather than making a poll, I'd suggest a discussion of the criteria for evaluating the worst President. Is corruption a major or minor criterion? Is following the Constitution a major or minor criterion? Is approval rating a major or minor criterion? GDP growth? Success rate of proposed measures? Foreign approval? Treaties? Success in war? Maintaining peace? Maintaining neutrality?

It's complicated, what seems more important to me is the method than the conclusion. Some people making this kind of measurement, worst/best president, sometimes are careful to avoid measurements that create divides. For example, George Washington made it a priority to keep us neutral, but many people now think that nonintervenionism is a negative quality. So do you want to stick to things people can generally agree on, or are you okay with going into broad stuff where opinions are everything?

 

I'm wondering WHY you want to do this. What's the point, beyond bashing one or another man who undoubtedly tried his best to do a very difficult job? A man who is, in every case, a hero to many and who deserves to be admired, and even loved by at least several thousands, if not millions?

Let history judge our Presidents. It is presumptuous for such as we to do anything but admire them all, from the immortal Washington to the persevering Bush they are great men, each and every one

 

Most politically interested people are caught up in the moment rather than taking a well researched historical position. What you are saying is very fair. At this time the two major candidates are Bush and Obama. I personally think that nominating either of those two presidents as the worst is shallow, asinine and inaccurate. I think approval rating would be very bad criteria to use in this process. Foreign approval would be silly unless a foreign entity utilized their disapproval to such a degree that they caused harm to the United States. I think corruption and violation of the Constitution would be major criteria. Maintaining peace and safety would be very important factors to consider. I think uniting our country would be the most important for a good president. In contrast I believe dividing our country would be solid criteria for considering a bad president. However if that is the only criteria to consider then James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson take the cake without any serious competitors.

I would like to receive input from the anti-Obama and the anti-Bush crowd. If I could find the factors that make Bush the worst president and the factors that makes Obama the worst president then we could use those factors to find 8 more presidents more worthy of the title or at least on competitive footing with Bush and/or Obama.

I really don't have a strong answer to your question but I do appreciate you adding to the discussion. Would the mods get mad at me if I ran two polls simultaneously with the same title? One poll would list 8 of the worst candidates of all time plus Bush and Obama. The other poll would list those same 8 candidates without Bush and Obama in the running. I have a lot to go on so far. I think I can take the input from both this poll, the other poll and my limited research to come up with 8 good names. Let me see where I stand. Give me a few minutes.

 

I do agree with you. My spirit is probably the same as yours. I think the bashing of Bush and Obama are totally unfounded. Even if they were bad presidents they are still worthy of great honor just for being willing to do the job. It's not an easy job and I'm sure they always feel like their critics far exceed those who appreciate their devotion to our country. If we are going to arbitrarily assign the title of worst president it should be done objectively rather than seeing through the tainted lenses of campaign season propaganda. Nobody is the devil and nobody smells like rotten cheese. People forget that foolish campaign dribble should cease immediately once the winning candidate is announced. The foolish campaign dribble serves a purpose but sometimes the residue hangs around for too many decades after the election ended.

I just want to start a counter poll to discredit irrational thinking. You are correct. It really is a cruel thing to do but someone who achieves that status has accepted and welcomed that scrutiny. Discussing the success and failures of major leaders is entirely fair game. As a matter of fact, some even view it as an American duty that is encouraged via the freedom of the press. At minimum it is one of America's favorite past times and a gentle reminder that we live in a great country where you don't get your head taken off for expressing your opinion.

 

Recent polling already has Obama as the worst President, even beating out Jimmy Carter.

Nixon has to be removed from the list because compared to Obama, Nixon was no where even close being a crook compared to Obama. Nixon also had to may successes in foreign affairs and civil rights.

JFK should get a mention because he had more failures than successes and he got us involved in a shooting war in Southeast Asia. But he wasn't the worst of Presidents. JFK just happens to have a well organized machine in place to protect his Presidency. But that machine is getting rusty.

Worst President candidates list:

Barack H. Obama the community organizer.

Jimmy Carter the peanut farmer.

 

Dear rangecontraction and FreshAir,

Can you give me a second choice just in case Bush and Obama fail to stack up with the other candidates for worst president ever? They have a lot of strong competitors.