Whether Joe Biden was a "good" president is fundamentally a matter of political judgment rather than an objective fact, since people evaluate presidencies using different values and priorities. That said, I can lay out some of the major areas where his administration is commonly praised or criticized, and you can weigh them according to your own priorities.
Often cited as strengths:
•Legislative achievements: Biden signed several significant bills, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act (semiconductor manufacturing), and the Inflation Reduction Act (climate spending, drug pricing reforms, tax provisions).
•COVID-19 response: His administration oversaw a major vaccine rollout and economic recovery programs (American Rescue Plan) early in his term.
•Job growth: The economy added millions of jobs during his presidency, and unemployment stayed relatively low for much of his term.
•Foreign alliances: Supporters credit him with rebuilding NATO cohesion and coordinating Western support for Ukraine after Russia's 2022 invasion.
•Judicial appointments: He appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
Often cited as weaknesses:
•Inflation: The U.S. experienced its highest inflation in four decades in 2022, which hurt his approval ratings and was a major issue in the 2024 election.
•Border/immigration policy: Record levels of migration at the southern border became a persistent political liability.
•Afghanistan withdrawal: The chaotic U.S. exit in August 2021, including the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in a bombing, was widely criticized across the political spectrum.
•Age and fitness for office: Concerns about his age and mental acuity grew throughout his term, culminating in his withdrawal from the 2024 race after a widely criticized debate performance.
•Israel-Gaza war: His handling of the conflict, including continued military aid to Israel amid rising Palestinian civilian casualties, drew criticism from both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian constituencies.
Approval ratings: His approval ratings were generally underwater for much of his presidency, particularly from 2022 onward, though they fluctuated with events like inflation trends and foreign policy developments.
Historians and political scientists will likely debate his legacy for years, and formal rankings (like the C-SPAN Presidential Historians Survey) typically take time to stabilize after a president leaves office. If you're interested in a specific policy area (economy, foreign policy, healthcare, etc.), I'm happy to go deeper on that.