THE PRESIDENTIAL POLL OF POLLS

THE PRESIDENTIAL POLL OF POLLS

INTRODUCTION

This research was based on pursuing an exhaustive group of polls of the "greatness"of presidents indicated on the internet. However, it has to be incomplete given the number of entries. Each poll has it's own lists and they reflect one's values and political preferences.The very first poll of this type was by Arthur M. Schlesinger in1948(infoplease.com)

METHODS

In this instance, the author discovered 32 polls from various print and electronic media.

Zogby has ten(10) polls for each year since 1996(zogby.com). The results are based on random national surveys of voters. Wikepedia(wikipedia.org) has a combination poll of voters and historians that tally 14 different surveys including both random and purposive. ABC networks is responsible for a poll (1)of registered voters that are randomly drawn(abc.com). Quinnipac interviewed a purposive(1) sample of historians(quinnipac.edu) and Sienna Research Institute draws upon a sample of political scientist and historians at the graduate level(sienna.edu). The results are over a set number of years and there are (4) polls. The Federalist society, an organization of conservative politicos is responsible for their own(1)poll of members(opinionjournal.com) and C-Span draws upon historians and constitutes one poll(americanpresidents.org)

The C-Span poll asks respondents to view each president from 20 different perspective and then the Historians gave an overall rank.

Further, the various polls not only reflect different time periods, different research strategies, but also different formats. Some look only at "modern era" presidents such as Franklin Roosevelt onward to the present. Other go back to the beginning of the

20th century and others tally dates from the first president.

Polls were weighted based on numbers of polls. However, this is not a meta-analysis with various individuals collapsed into the numerator and divided by the standard deviation in the denominator.. Rather, it looks at the mean rank (assuming hard number theory) of 32 polls based on averages.

Time is especially important. After President Ford died, his ranking quadrupled. Reagan's rank has improved dramatically. George W. Bush's standing has gone downward and Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower continue to climb. At the time of this writing, President Bill Clinton is the highest ranking ex-president.

RESULTS

The rankings at this time are the following from 32 polls going back roughly ten years.

1. Abraham Lincoln

2. Franklin D. Roosevelt

3. George Washington

4. Theodore Roosevelt

5.Woodrow Wilson

6. Thomas Jefferson

7.John F. Kennedy

8. Harry Truman & Dwight Eisenhower (tie)

9.Ronald Reagan

10. Lyndon B. Johnson

The list is the top ten of the 43 presidents that have served in this office since the beginning of this country when it was formally organized. Before Washington, there were a few others. However, the United States had not been formally declared a country.

REFERENCES

americanpresidents.org

abc.com

infoplease.com

opinionjournal.com

sienna.edu

wikepedia.org

zogby.com