The nation’s adoration of moderate former Democratic President John F. Kennedy continues, making him the most popular recent president, according to a new survey.
A new University of Virginia Center for Politics-Reuters/Ipsos survey, released in advance of President’s Day, found on a 1 to 10 rating that Kennedy had the best, followed by Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama.
And while another recent poll found that Reagan was the past president most wanted to return to the White House, it is now Obama at the top. A previous version of this story inaccurately quoted the poll.
In the survey, President Trump ranked low, above only former Presidents Johnson and Nixon.
Partisanship played a role in the latest version of the presidents poll.
Said UVa:
Today’s extraordinarily high level of partisanship mainly explains why the two most polarizing presidents among Democratic and Republican respondents are the two most recent, Obama and Trump. The difference between the average rating among Democrats and Republicans for Obama was 5.18, the largest margin of any president. Trump was next, with a sizable difference of 5.06. Clinton and Reagan tied for a distant third with a partisan difference of 2.88.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
