The good news for Richard Nixon fans is that he’s no longer viewed by voters as the worst president of the modern era.
That dubious distinction now belongs to President Biden, according to a J.L. Partners poll conducted for the Daily Mail in Britain.
The survey of 1,006 registered U.S. voters released Friday asked them to rank the nine elected presidents from the last 55 years in order from best to worst.
About 14% of voters polled ranked Mr. Biden in the top two, while 44% placed him in the bottom two for a net score of negative 30, below Nixon, who scored negative 25.
Pollster James Johnson, who called the results “diabolical” for Mr. Biden, noted that the incumbent typically suffers from a “recency bias” in such surveys.
“But regardless of that, these numbers are worse than I expected,” Mr. Johnson told the Daily Mail. “Voters have obviously looked at his age, general conduct in office, his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, the situation at the southern border, and decided that, in their view, it qualifies him to be the worst president in modern history.”
Mr. Biden, at 82 the oldest sitting president in U.S. history, leaves office Jan. 20 after serving one term in the White House following his 2020 victory over Republican Donald Trump.
“From the man who beat Trump to the man who let him back in, and who voters feel has been fundamentally a bad president,” Mr. Johnson said.
Mr. Trump won a decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election. Even so, voters ranked him the third-worst president based on his first term in office with a score of negative 15.
NEW: The latest @DailyMail / J.L. Partners poll asked the American public to rank presidents from the last 50 years
— J.L. Partners  (@J_L_Partners) December 6, 2024
The results show the public rank Joe Biden as the worst president in modern history, behind Richard Nixon
J.L. Partners/@DailyMail, 1,006 RV
Link in next tweet pic.twitter.com/EjLaBG498E
At the top of the list was Republican Ronald Reagan, who scored plus 30, followed by Democrat Barack Obama at plus 21, Democrat Bill Clinton at plus 1, and Republican George W. Bush at plus 1.
Voters were evenly split on Democrat Jimmy Carter, with 15% putting him in the top two and 15% in the bottom two for a score of zero.
He was followed by Republican George H.W. Bush, who was the first president to land underwater in the poll with a score of negative 1.
Not included in the poll was Republican Gerald Ford, who succeeded Nixon after his resignation in 1974 but lost to Mr. Carter in 1976.
A J.L. Partners poll released Tuesday found Mr. Biden’s approval rating dropping from 41% to 37%, driven in part by his decision to issue a sweeping pardon of his son Hunter. More than half of respondents, or 52%, said the pardon was wrong.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.