If Reagan is in the top half, how am I supposed to take the list seriously? Or are you telling me ~28 presidents were actually worse?
Politics
@politics on kbin.social is a magazine to share and discuss current events news, opinion/analysis, videos, or other informative content related to politicians, politics, or policy-making at all levels of governance (federal, state, local), both domestic and international. Members of all political perspectives are welcome here, though we run a tight ship. Community guidelines and submission rules were co-created between the Mod Team and early members of @politics. Please read all community guidelines and submission rules carefully before engaging our magazine.
Reagan was loved by the country at the time and was extremely effective at implementing his agenda.
All of it is monstrous to me as well, but to compare him to Trump, who didn't even try to implement much of an agenda and literally had ZERO party platform for his second term... it makes a little more sense in that context.
"Trump's overall rating was 10.92, easily the worst showing, while Biden's 62.66 had him tied with John Adams. Some of Biden's appeal could be due to the person he followed in the Oval Office."
Biden's biggest achievements have been fixing the cluster-fuck Trump left him (cough - Covid - cough). If Trump hadn't come before him, Biden would be seen largely as a placeholder President. Someone keeping the seat warm until the next Democrat can come in.
Also worth crediting him on the infrastructure deal. This piece of legislation had a lot of needed stuff in it.
For instance
Money to replace lead service pipes
Money for bridges, etc
A HUGE sorely needed investment in public transportation including passenger rail
Various green initiatives (ev charger network, solar and power efficiency incentives)
Etc.
It has been a really long time since the federal government has delivered anything (besides tax cuts that lean towards the wealthy) so it's a big deal that this was pushed through.
The infrastructure deal is largely invisible. The value behind it won't be seen for decades and there will be years of fraud and abuse it will have to overcome.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/17/democrats-shrinking-infrastructure-plan-00039588
https://theconversation.com/1-2t-infrastructure-plan-offers-lucrative-target-for-fraud-171453
Fair enough, it was watered down in the name of compromise. The last piece of major legislation that I was enthusiastic about was the ACA, and look what that ended being after negotiation/compromise - better than nothing I guess, but, in my opinion, a lost opportunity due to poor leadership. Biden has been fairly effective in that context.