Posted on 05/27/2003 4:37:47 AM PDT by cody32127
IN SEARCH OF A LEGACY Poll: Clinton greater than Reagan, Washington Gallup survey also ranks Bill ahead of Jefferson, tied with Bush
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: May 27, 2003 3:54 a.m. Eastern
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Bill Clinton tops Ronald Reagan, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in a new survey of America's greatest presidents, and ranks evenly with George W. Bush.
Bill Clinton
A Gallup poll released this month asked the question: "Who do you regard as the greatest United States president?"
While Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy finished first and second with 15 and 13 percent of the votes respectively, Clinton and President Bush tied for third at 11 percent.
Reagan finished fifth with ten percent of responses, followed by Franklin Roosevelt with nine percent and George Washington with seven.
Reagan, George H.W. Bush on Time cover
Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, Teddy Roosevelt, George H.W. Bush, and Thomas Jefferson all collected less than five percent.
Clinton is especially popular among the MTV generation, with nearly 3 in 10 respondents in the 18- to 29-year-old age group mentioning him. His 29 percent tally of younger Americans is about triple the competition from Lincoln and the current president, both of whom received ten percent support from that group.
Not surprisingly, one's political affiliation had a great impact on selections for this poll. For instance, among Republicans, Clinton received only two percent backing, compared to 23 for George W. Bush, 20 for Lincoln, and 18 for Reagan.
Those identifying themselves as Democrats gave Kennedy 25 percent and Clinton 21 percent, compared to just three percent for Both Reagan and Bush the younger.
Just two years ago when the same question was asked, Reagan was the overall winner of the greatest president question, gathering 18 percent of responses twice as much as Clinton.
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Related stories:
Clintons 'most corrupt' of 2002
Bush 'most admired man' of 2002
(Washington, D.C.) -- In a little reported provision of the Patriot Act of 2003, former president Bill Clinton has been exiled to the island of Elba along with his wife, members of his cabinet, and George Stephanopoulos.
"Frankly, Clinton was just becoming a pain in the ass," said Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), a co-sponsor of the legislation. "Jesus, we're all sick and tired of hearing about the 'most ethical administration in US history.' I mean, you try to explain to your 90-year old grandmother what "hummer" means."
According to the provisions of the bill, the Clinton entourage will not be allowed any contact with the outside world except for weekly parachute drops of Moonpies, Mountain Dew, frozen White Castle hamburgers, and back issues of The Nation and Swank magazines.
A spokesman for the former president said that Mr. Clinton is "looking forward to this exciting new opportunity to serve the American people." George Stephanopoulos told this reporter that he is currently re-reading The Lord of the Flies.
William Grim, for Iconclast
Cuban Missile Crisis. Bay of Pigs. Then there's the sympathy factor for getting assassinated.
Clinton is especially popular among the MTV generation....explains his showing in the screwed-up poll.
MTV is watched only by oversexed morons who don't know a thing about politics; these are the Clintons kind of people.
Exactly. That's the same reason why movie polls often show more recent junk like "Dirty Dancing" or "Phantom Menace" ranked higher than "Casablanca" and "Citizen Kane." All that polls like this show is the woeful ignorance of history of most modern Americans. Clinton is the "Dirty Dancing" of presidents. Come to think of it, he was the "Phantom Menace," too.
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