Five men who have served as president of the United States are still living, and Barack Obama is apparently the most liked with a 59% favorability rating. The most recent former president, Joe Biden, is the least with just 39% favorability. George W Bush and Bill Clinton are rated more positively than negatively, and opinions about current president Donald Trump are divided. Bush and Clinton are apparently less familiar to Americans than the other three recent presidents.
The results come from a Gallup survey taken January 21-27, shortly after Trump’s inauguration for his second term. The other four living presidents attended the ceremony, all five attended the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter-the oldest president ever.
The ratings of Biden and Trump are virtually unchanged from a survey after the 2024 election, meaning neither has gotten a boost from any news surrounding the presidential transition process. Trump’s rating are equally negative and positive, they are some of his best since Gallup first measured opinions of him well before his political career began in 1999. His only net positive rating-50% favorable to 38% unfavorable-in 2005 when he was featured on the reality show “The Apprentice”.
Opinions on Trump were poor during his initial run for president in 2015-2016 with an average of 33% viewing him positively. When he won in November 2106, his ratings went up to 42%. And then climbed again to 46% after his first inauguration. His favorability was mostly above 40% in his first term as the president but it fell to 36% just before his departure. Amid record spikes in COVID-19 infections and the January 6 Capitol Hill Riots. In July 2023, his ratings were back to 40% after he had been indicted in the classified documents case in federal court.
Biden, currently 39% favorable and 57% unfavorable, are not much better than his worst ratings since he became a well known public figure. In June 2024, the split was 37% vs 61%, with many citing concerns about his policies and age while polls showed him trailing Trump. Concerns about his age intensified after a poor debate performance on June 27. The highest point of favorability for Biden was 61% in January 2017 nearing the end of his vice presidency, in January 2021 he had a 59% favorability rating.
Opinions on Obama have remained stable since he vacated the Oval Office in January 2017, a survey done in the days after the 2016 election found that 62% of adults in America had a good opinion of him. The high point for him (measured by Gallup scene 2006) was in January 2009, less than two weeks before he took over from George W Bush with a 78% rating. His lowest came in November 2014 with 42% after Republicans won control of the senate and increased their numbers in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections. Obama had a 42% in Gallups first measure in December 2006, but 47% of Americans were not familiar with him at that time.
In 2017, 59% viewed George W Bush favorably 39% unfavorably and 5% didn’t have an opinion. Now, his score has dipped to 52%, because more Americans are unfamiliar with him (14%). His unfavorable score is also down to 34%. The 2017 rating was the highest for Bush after his presidency. His highest ratings were 87% in November 2001 after the September 11 terror attacks, the only people to score higher at that time were Tiger Woods in 2000 and Colin Powell in 2002-both with 88%.
His second term was more challenging and his ratings dropped to as low as 32% by April 2008. Americans had a net-negative opinion for the first two years after he left the job. In 2013, four years after he left the White House, Americans were evenly divided on their opinions but they have mostly been positive since then.
More Americans don’t have an opinion about Bill Clinton now (12%) up from when asked about him in 2017 (3%). The increase in not knowing who he is is accompanied by a drop in negative opinions down to 41% from 52%. Meanwhile his favorable ratings are up to 48% from 45%. Americans are evaluating him more positively than negatively since the 1992 Democratic National Convention where he was first nominated to President. There are exceptions, including a 39% favorable vs 59% unfavorable amid controversial pardons and keeping gifts intended for the White House, they were back to an even split later that year. By 2003, they were back to a net positive balance. In August 2012, 69% rated him positively-his best rating.
All five presidents are rated better by members of their own party vs the opposition party. The 86 point party gap in ratings for Trump is the largest with 93% of Republicans versus 7% of Democrats having a positive opinion of him. Biden and Obama differ by 70 points between the parties and Clinton has a gap of 54 points. Bush’s are the most similar by party with just 15 points between them, 63% Republican vs 48% Democrats. Democrats are more positive for Obama (96%) than to Biden (78%) or Clinton (77%).