Obama Seen As Biggest Failure Among Modern Presidents

There is new poll out from the Washington Examiner. This one is a bit different, though, from the types of polls we usually see. There were no questions about ObamaCare or whether respondents approve of Obama’s overall performance. Nope, this poll attempts to measure  historical significance. And this was not just about Obama but several other former presidents as well. There are some interesting findings.

This poll is really just for fun so I am not sure how much we should read into this. To be fair, when a sitting president is included in polls like this when there is so much anger about some of his current policies, the approval numbers tend to be lower than after he has finished his term. On the other hand, exactly how much they might improve remains to be seen. But for now, Obama is seen as more of a ‘failure’ than any of his modern predecessors.

Take a look at the graphic:

The poll rates every US President since 1900. Obama leads the pack with 37 percent calling his time in office a ‘failure.’ This is more than the 32 percent who considered George W Bush’s time in office as a failure, and much more than the 30 percent who saw Nixon as a failure. Among the other modern Presidents rated as a ‘failure’ only Jimmy Carter comes close with 22 percent. Those are certainly high numbers. But when you combine this number with those who said that he is a below average president, it means that almost a majority (47 percent) consider Obama to be at the very least an ineffectual leader.

Something else interesting involves looking at the other side of the graphic. It seems that 14 percent of those who responded to this survey considered Obama a ‘great’ president. While I am at a loss to understand or agree with that number, it places Obama in a tie with Dwight Eisenhower for the seventh in that category.

It would seem that people either love Obama or hate him. Or they at least have that reaction to his policies. If this poll is any indication, it would certainly look like Obama needs to do some work on improving his legacy. Then again, maybe he really doesn’t care. 

I seem to recall Obama saying he would rather be a one-term president and have all his agenda accomplished than win re-election but have troubles getting his policy initiatives through. He got two terms and he got ObamaCare pushed through. But in the end it looks like his ‘agenda’ is going to have far-reaching effects into the lives of everyday people and not for the better.

Personally I would expect Obama to rank near the top of similar polls in terms of being considered a ‘failure’. Hopefully in the future another president will be able to clean up the mess Obama has made of our healthcare system, not to the scandals he’s responsible for.

What do YOU think? Would you rank Obama as a ‘failure’? If not, where would you rate him?  Do you agree with the ratings of other past presidents?