A balanced look at Biden's presidency — I'll pull recent evaluations, polling and historian rankings to compare strengths and critiques.
Whether Joe Biden was a "good" president is subjective and depends on what criteria you use - legislative record, economic management, foreign policy, or public approval. Historians, pollsters, and partisan observers have reached different conclusions.
Public Approval
•Biden began his term with 57% approval in Gallup's first measurement, just below the historical average of 60% for post-WWII presidents elected to their first term.
•His approval fell significantly after the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and remained low as the country experienced high inflation and rising gas prices, even as they later decreased during his presidency.
•During his third full year in office, spanning Jan. 20, 2023 to Jan. 19, 2024, an average of 39.8% of Americans approved of his job performance. Among prior presidents in the Gallup polling era who were elected to their first term, only Jimmy Carter fared worse in his third year.
•Despite significant wage increases, rapid job growth, and greatly reduced unemployment, public worries regarding inflation contributed to a common perception that Biden was mismanaging the economy. By the end of 2023, the country’s inflation rate had declined to 4.1 percent, but Biden’s approval rating (according Gallup polls) was only 39 percent.
•His final Gallup reading before leaving office was 40% in January 2-15, 2025. Gallup’s final monthly job approval rating for Biden, based on the Jan. 2-15 poll, is 40%.
•That placed him above the five presidents who exited with worse numbers — Nixon at 24%, Truman at 32%, Carter and George W. Bush at 34% each, and Trump (first term) at 34% — but well below departing presidents like Barack Obama (59%), Bill Clinton (66%), and Ronald Reagan (63%). His full-term average was 42%.
Frequently Cited Accomplishments
Supporters point to a legislatively productive term:
•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. The CHIPS and Science Act provided $52.7 billion for semiconductor manufacturing incentives, research and related programs.
•Climate & Health: Signed the Inflation Reduction Act, investing in clean energy, capping insulin prices at $35 for seniors, and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. The law included major clean-energy investments, health-care provisions and prescription-drug reforms.
•Other cited achievements include expanding NATO, expanding health care, enacting gun control legislation, and passing the largest infrastructure program since the 1950's, the $1.9T American Rescue Plan for COVID relief, appointment of the first African American woman to the Supreme Court, and historic investments in infrastructure and reducing prescription drug costs.
Frequently Cited Criticisms
Critics focus on:
•For millions of Americans, the Biden years became associated with rapid inflation, historically heavy migration at the southern border, a traumatic withdrawal from Afghanistan and growing questions about presidential age and transparency.
•Conservatives can point to 9.1% inflation, historically high border encounters, the Afghanistan collapse and an enormous increase in federal debt.
•Concerns about his age and health were raised throughout his presidency, ultimately culminating in his late decision to not seek re-election, and critiques of his handling of inflation, border security, and the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Historian Assessment
Academic evaluations have been more positive than contemporary polls:
In a recent survey conducted by the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey, historians and political scientists rated every U.S. president from George Washington to Joe Biden on a scale of 0 to 100 for their overall greatness. The survey included 154 usable responses from experts.
The historians ranked Biden the 14th overall greatest president, just a couple of spots behind Bill Clinton (12) and ahead of other more recent presidencies, including Reagan (16), George H.W. Bush (19), George W. Bush (32) and Carter (22).
Scholars note that judgment is still considered somewhat "in progress" given how recent his presidency was.
Summary
•If judged by legislative output and historian rankings, Biden is often placed in the middle-to-upper tier.
•If judged by public approval and handling of inflation, immigration, and Afghanistan, his presidency polled poorly with the general public for most of his term.
Most assessments acknowledge both: a substantial legislative record combined with persistent low approval driven by economic and border concerns and age-related questions.