Was Joe Biden a good president?

Was Biden a good president? I'll weigh his record against approval ratings and historians' rankings to give you a balanced answer.

Whether Joe Biden was a "good" president is subjective and depends on political perspective and criteria used, but his record can be assessed on achievements, challenges, and public and expert evaluations:

Scholarly Evaluation

Historians have rated him relatively favorably compared to public opinion. The 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey, which collected responses from 154 presidential historians, ranked Biden as the 14th best president in U.S. history, putting him in the top third of U.S. presidents, just ahead of Woodrow Wilson and Ronald Reagan.

The Wikipedia summary of his presidency notes that although some political scientists and historians have rated Biden's presidency favorably, his political legacy is interwoven with the re-election of Donald Trump in 2024.

Major Legislative and Policy Achievements

Supporters point to several major legislative accomplishments:

•The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill. Other summaries describe his transformational legislation as including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the $750 billion Inflation Reduction Act and the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act.

•The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a ten-year plan to invest in American roads, bridges, public transit, ports and broadband access, described by supporters as the largest infrastructure program since the 1950s.

•The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which included significant federal investment in climate and domestic clean energy production, tax credits for solar panels, electric cars, extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies and a provision allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

•Other domestic legislation including the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major federal gun control law in nearly three decades, the CHIPS and Science Act bolstering the semiconductor and manufacturing industry, the Honoring our PACT Act expanding health care for veterans, the Respect for Marriage Act, and the Electoral Count Reform Act.

•Foreign policy actions including signing AUKUS, and supporting the expansion of NATO with the additions of Finland and Sweden, imposing sanctions on Russia and providing over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine, and restoring U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement.

On the economy, the administration oversaw what is described as the strongest economic recovery of any G7 nation post COVID-19 and one of the strongest economic recoveries in United States history, breaking a 70-year record for low unemployment, and the creation of over 16 million new jobs, the most of any single term president.

Biden began his tenure as the oldest president in American history, entering office amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic crisis, and increased political polarization.

Criticisms and Challenges

Critics point to several major challenges during his term:

•Inflation surged to 9.1% in 2022 under his watch, also described as peak inflation of 9.1% in 2022, eroding wages and public trust, with policies like excessive stimulus blamed for fueling it. By the end of 2023, the country's inflation rate had declined to 4.1 percent, but Biden's approval rating was only 39 percent, the second lowest of any modern U.S. president at that point.

•Border encounters hit records (over 10 million), with another estimate of over 8 million migrant encounters at the southwest border from 2021 to 2024, drawing bipartisan rebuke.

•The Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 was chaotic, resulting in 13 U.S. deaths and Taliban resurgence, labeled a foreign policy disaster, also described as the Afghanistan withdrawal resulting in 13 U.S. service member deaths.

•Critics also cited concerns about border security and immigration policies, energy policies leading to higher gas prices, and perceptions of ineffective leadership.

His age and mental fitness were a frequent subject of discussion throughout his presidency, ultimately culminating in his decision to withdraw his bid for re-election in the 2024 presidential election.

Public Approval

Public opinion was more negative than the historians' ranking:

•Biden began his term with 57% job approval, slightly below the average 60% for post-World War II presidents.

•He averaged 42.2% job approval during his four years as president, the second lowest in Gallup polling history.

•Gallup described his final job approval rating as 40%, which ranked toward the middle of final ratings for recent presidents.

•More broadly, across Gallup and other trackers, Biden's approval trended from above 50% in the first year to a consistent mid-to-high 30s finish in many final polls.

Gallup noted that rising inflation, record-high numbers of unauthorized border crossings, and international challenges in Ukraine and the Middle East kept Biden's approval ratings in the low 40s or high 30s thereafter.

Conclusion

•To supporters, Biden is seen as a consequential, deal-making president who passed major infrastructure, climate, health care and gun-safety legislation, managed the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, expanded NATO, and presided over strong job growth and low unemployment.

•To critics, he is seen as having mishandled inflation, border security, and the Afghanistan withdrawal, and struggling with low public approval and concerns about age and leadership.

In short, historians currently rank him above average (14th), while contemporary public voters, as measured by Gallup, gave him one of the lowest average approval ratings of any modern president.

Citations (2)

1wikipedia.orgEncyclopedias and referencequality 0.83
Presidency of Joe Biden
Backs: “The 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey, which collected responses from 154 presidential historians, ranked Biden as the 14th best president in U.S. history, putting him in the top third of U.S. presidents, just ahead of Woodrow Wilson and Ronald Reagan. The Wikipedia summary of his presidency notes that…”
2gallup.comCompanies
Biden Job Approval Second Lowest Among Post-WWII Presidents
Backs: “Public opinion was more negative than the historians' ranking: Biden began his term with 57% job approval, slightly below the average 60% for post-World War II presidents.”