According to this Gallup poll, Americans my age (33 or thereabouts -- born during the Nixon Administration) are lucky enough to have lived under six of our nation's fourteen greatest Presidents.
Politics aside, I fail to see how either Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton beat out FDR, Lincoln, and George Washington. I stunningly fail to see how George W. Bush places ahead of George Washington. I fail to see how Jimmy Carter seems to have consistently outperformed Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, George Bush the Elder, Thomas Jefferson, or Dwight Eisenhower.
There seems to be no explanation at all for results like this -- unless Americans don't actually know that much about their Presidents or their history. But nah, that couldn't be it!
Actually, I blame the poll's methodology, which seems to consist of asking people to name the greatest President. This method appears more suited to formulating results for an episode of Family Feud than yielding any concrete information about what Americans believe about their Presidents.
(link via Oliver Willis)
The personal blog of author Kelly Sedinger, chronicling the adventures of one overalls-clad wanderer.
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