Entries for February 20, 2007

Let's hope by now you've seen our President's Day cover story by Jay Tolson heralding the 10 worst presidents of all time. Some have naturally asked: Where's George W. Bush? Well, the history on the 43rd president is just starting to be written, so he's not on the list. But if new polling by John Zogby is any indication, neither Richard Nixon nor our No. 1 bum James Buchanan will have to worry long about topping the worst list.

That's because Zogby tells us that Bush is considered by voters the biggest presidential failure in the past 60 years. His failure rating: 30.2 percent, far more than Nixon's 23 percent. Zogby's polling asks voters simply to rate the presidents as great, near great, average, below average, and failure. We'll just focus on the "great" and "failure" ratings for presidents since FDR.

Roosevelt: 58.7 percent said he was great, making him the greatest in modern history. Just .02 percent called him a failure.

Truman: 26.5 percent great, 0.5 percent failure.

Ike: 21.1 percent great, 0.1 percent failure.

JFK: 43 percent great, 0.5 percent failure.

LBJ: 5.9 percent great, 7.6 percent failure.

Nixon: 4.5 percent great, 23 percent failure.

Ford: 17.5 percent great, 0.9 percent failure.

Carter: 13.5 percent great, 10.2 percent failure.

Reagan: 34.4 percent great, 3.7 percent failure.

George H.W. Bush: 10.3 percent great, 8.2 percent failure

Clinton: 21.1 percent great, 11 percent failure.

W: 7.9 percent great, 30.2 percent failure.

And that's not the only news. Zogby's January poll found that the older and smarter you are, the more you think Bush is a failure. The largest age group with that opinion is made up of those 50 to 64. And 32.4 percent of those with some college education think he stinks.