Was Joe Biden a good president?

A good presidency is debated — I'll pull together how historians, pollsters and analysts have rated Biden's record.

Was Joe Biden a good president is subjective and evaluations differ depending on whether you look at historians' rankings, legislative record, or public approval polling.

Historian and Scholar Rankings

In scholarly surveys, Biden has ranked relatively highly for a one-term president:

•The Siena College Research Institute's 2022 survey ranked Biden 19th out of 45 presidents

•A February 2024 American Political Science Association poll of historians and scholars also ranked Biden the 14th-greatest president

•A separate report on the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert survey ranked Biden 14th, ahead of Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan, and Ulysses S. Grant, and gave him a score of 62.88 which is above average.

The pollsters noted that Biden's ranking was unusually high for a presidency without military victories or institutional expansion.

Arguments That He Was Effective

Joe Biden was the 46th President of the United States from January 20, 2021 – January 20, 2025.

Supporters point to a substantive legislative record despite narrow congressional majorities:

•Biden's major legislative achievements 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).

•The Wikipedia summary notes as president, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, and signed bipartisan bills on infrastructure and manufacturing. He also proposed the Build Back Better Act, part of which was incorporated into the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, and appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.

•In foreign policy, the U.S. reentered the Paris Agreement and enacted the New Atlantic Charter, responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Russia and authorizing Ukrainian aid, and supported Finland's and Sweden's bids to join NATO.

Some analysis described this from a policy standpoint as arguably ranking among the best one-term presidents, noting he signed into law several major bills including a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Arguments and Criticisms That He Was Not

Public opinion polling was significantly more negative than historian rankings, a divergence noted by the pollsters:

•Gallup's averaged polls of Biden's presidency found that he was the second-least popular president in its polling history, after Trump.

•CNN and CBS News found Biden's final approval rating to be 37% and 36%, respectively, and FiveThirtyEight found a final average approval rating of 37%. Biden's approval rating in January 2025 was 40%.

Common criticisms cited include:

•Handling of the economy with inflation concerns, border security and the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

•More broadly, critiques have been leveled against his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, the rising inflation rate, and the ongoing challenges related to immigration and border security, and concerns about his age and health have occasionally been raised.

•Specific examples cited for negative perception include frustration with rising inflation affecting everyday living costs and the withdrawal from Afghanistan frequently cited as a significant foreign policy failure.

Concerns about Biden's age and health persisted throughout his presidency, and he is noted as the first president to turn 80 years old while in office. He initially ran for reelection in 2024 but withdrew his candidacy after his performance in the first presidential debate and intensifying scrutiny about his age and health.

Conclusion

Evaluations of Biden's presidency tend to vary by perspective: independent historians have tended to rate his legislative and institutional accomplishments - particularly on infrastructure, climate, semiconductors, COVID relief, and alliances - favorably, while contemporaneous public polling and partisan critics focused on inflation, immigration/border issues, the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, and concerns about age and political durability.

Citations (1)

1wikipedia.orgEncyclopedias and referencequality 0.83
Joe Biden
Backs: “The pollsters noted that Biden's ranking was unusually high for a presidency without military victories or institutional expansion. Arguments That He Was Effective”