Posted on 02/18/2005 2:23:36 PM PST by NYGOPRULEZ
GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- Depending on where Americans live, on Monday they'll be celebrating the birthday of the nation's first president, George Washington, or Washington's birthday and President Abraham Lincoln's birthday. A recent Gallup Poll asking Americans to name, without prompting, the "greatest United States president," finds Americans most often mentioning Ronald Reagan. Republicans and Democrats differ sharply in their views of the greatest president, with Republicans most often mentioning Reagan and Democrats most often mentioning Bill Clinton. When asked to choose the greater president between Lincoln and Washington, Americans pick Lincoln by a wide margin.
Reagan Tops List
The poll, conducted Feb. 7-10, finds that Reagan is mentioned more often than any other president in history as the greatest, at 20%. Four other presidents trail closely behind: Clinton (with 15% of the mentions), Lincoln (14%), Franklin D. Roosevelt (12%), and John F. Kennedy (also 12%). The current president, George W. Bush, and the first president, Washington, are each mentioned by 5% of Americans.
(Excerpt) Read more at gallup.com ...
CLINTON?????????????????????????
Good choice.
Must have polled TV viewers. Clinton shouldn't even rate among people who know history.
Clinton belongs nowhere near that list.
Gallup Ping
FReepmail me if you want to be on or off the list.
...still trying to provide a legacy for Clinton...
You mean the guy on the dollar bill?
Proof that "history" for too many Americans is the span between their own birth and death. Pity.
APf
You guys are taking this mention of Clinton all wrong.
Democrats do not know any history, and the only president they can think of that isn't Bush, his father, or Reagan is Bill Clinton, since it was an open ended question, they had no one else to choose.
Reagan among the top, IMO yes. Clinton??? No way. Take the poll in a few decades nd Clinton's name recognition will hopefully have faded and he'll be relegated to the basement, a position he richly deserves.
It shows how truly clueless the American public is. Washington at the top. Lincoln and FDR should be up there because of leadership during times when our country was engaged in major wars that threatened our national existence. Reagan for much the same reason. Clinton and Kennedy don't belong in the top tier. It's too early to be grading Bush as yet.
1. Washington
2. Reagan
3. Lincoln
4. Bush (43)
I forgot the others mentioned...
Clinton is one of the 5 worst presidents in American history, along with Jimmy "Malaise" Carter, FDR, LBJ, and Woodrow "Woody" Wilson.
There have been other very good presidents, but none have been even close to Washington.
Clinton. Come on. This is a joke. He certainly wasn't the worst, but to name him as the greatest just because he is fresh in mind is a sin. I wish that those polled would have had to name some of their choice's accomplishments. "Those who choose Clinton as America's greatest president named his chief success as 'being a player,' although they were quick to add that his taste in women was his greatest failing."
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