Was Joe Biden a good president?

Was Biden a good president? I'll pull diverse assessments of his record to give you a balanced answer.

Was Joe Biden a good president depends on how his record is evaluated - historians, polls, and political commentators offer competing assessments.

Assessments Summarize as Mixed and Consequential

One synthesis describes his record as combining substantive policy accomplishments with glaring failures and political liabilities, and that assessments depend heavily on whether one weights durable institutional change and legislation or immediate crises and political consequences more heavily.

A similar assessment notes his presidency combined tangible policy accomplishments with pronounced vulnerabilities in crisis management, inflation control and immigration.

Accomplishments Cited by Supporters

Major legislative achievements attributed to the Biden presidency include:

•The American Rescue Plan ($1.9T COVID relief), the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ($1.2T), the CHIPS Act ($52B semiconductor investment), and the Inflation Reduction Act ($369B climate — the largest climate legislation in US history).

•Infrastructure & Manufacturing: Passed the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to improve roads, bridges, and high-speed internet. The CHIPS and Science Act incentivized domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

•Climate & Economy: Signed the Inflation Reduction Act, investing in clean energy, capping insulin prices at $35 for seniors, and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

Supporters also point to:

•Restoring the United States as the anchor of the free world while leading the effort to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.

•Record job creation, with Biden launching $1.9 trillion in pandemic aid that contributed to the addition of 15.7 million jobs, while other defenders point to 16 million jobs created, falling violent crime, cooling inflation, and stock market levels.

Criticisms and Liabilities Cited by Opponents

The primary drags on his approval were inflation peaking at 9.1% and the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal.

Other frequently cited criticisms include:

•The Afghanistan withdrawal, a border crisis, crushing inflation, and America weakened abroad.

•The rushed Afghanistan withdrawal is criticized for chaos and neglect, record high inflation impacts purchasing power, and the border crisis worsened with significant illegal crossings.

•Voters when asked for the worst things about his presidency cited inflation, the state of the southern border, and the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Another analysis noted that despite many accomplishments, the November election's outcome demonstrated that his failures—particularly on inflation and the border—eclipsed his successes for most voters.

Public Opinion and Historical Rankings

Approval Ratings: Gallup reported Biden averaged 42.2% job approval across his four years, placing him as the second-lowest average in Gallup's post-World War II history.

He also averaged 38.7% job approval during his 13th quarter in office, and none of the other nine presidents elected to their first term since Dwight Eisenhower had a lower 13th-quarter average than Biden. That quarterly average ranks 277th out of 314 presidential quarters in Gallup records dating to 1945, in the bottom 12% of all presidential quarters.

Historians' Ranking: In contrast, the 2024 edition of the Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey of 154 historians and presidential experts rated Biden in 14th place, just ahead of Woodrow Wilson and Ronald Reagan, in the top third of U.S. presidents.

In short, scholarly rankings based on legislative and institutional accomplishments tend to rate the presidency more favorably, while contemporary public approval polling and voter surveys on inflation, border, and foreign policy management were historically low.

Citations (1)

1gallup.comCompanies
Biden's 13th-Quarter Approval Average Lowest Historically
Backs: “Approval Ratings: Gallup reported Biden averaged 42.2% job approval across his four years, placing him as the second-lowest average in Gallup's post-World War II history. He also averaged 38.7% job approval during his 13th quarter in office, and none of the other nine presidents elected to their first term since…”