Presidential Greatness in a Polarized Era: Results from the Latest Presidential Greatness Survey

For generations, scholars have used surveys to examine presidential greatness. However, the rising tide of politicization calls these ratings into question. Can those who study the presidency offer fair judgments regardless of their political affiliation? Does their affiliation alter judgments of pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPS, political science & politics Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 413 - 420
Main Authors Rottinghaus, Brandon, Eady, Gregory, Vaughn, Justin S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.07.2020
Subjects
American history
Bush, George
Bush, George W
Candidates
Carter, Jimmy
Conservatism
Experts
Grant, Ulysses S (1822-1885)
Ideology
Johnson, Lyndon Baines (1908-1973)
Leadership
Obama, Barack
Partisanship
Party identification
Political identity
Political parties
Political science
Political scientists
Politicization
Politics
Polls & surveys
Presidents
Ratings & rankings
Reagan, Ronald Wilson
Roosevelt, Theodore (1858-1919)
Trump, Donald J
Wilson, Woodrow (1856-1924)
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Summary:For generations, scholars have used surveys to examine presidential greatness. However, the rising tide of politicization calls these ratings into question. Can those who study the presidency offer fair judgments regardless of their political affiliation? Does their affiliation alter judgments of presidential greatness in historical or contemporary terms? Using a 2018 expert survey of political scientists who study the presidency, we find that party affiliation and ideological differences do alter—albeit slightly—perceptions of presidential greatness for both past and present presidents up to and including Donald Trump. Our results call into question such ratings insofar as they exist absent the political and ideological context of the reviewer.
ISSN:1049-0965
1537-5935
DOI:10.1017/S1049096520000177