Was Biden a good president? I'll gather his record, polling and historian rankings to give you a balanced answer.
Whether Joe Biden was a "good" president is subjective and depends on political perspective and what criteria you prioritize. Historians and the public have assessed him very differently.
Scholarly Assessment
Historians have generally ranked him in the middle to upper tier.
•In the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project, he ranked 14th best president.
•The survey of 154 experts conducted November 15 to December 31, 2023, ranked Joe Biden fourteenth overall.
•The authors noted that "Proponents of the Biden presidency have strong arguments in their arsenal, but his high placement within the top 15 suggests a powerful anti-Trump factor at work", noting "So far, Biden's record does not include the military victories or institutional expansion that have typically driven higher rankings".
•One commentator ranked him even higher at 10th, describing him as having "Oversaw America's recovery from COVID-19, worked with Congress to invest trillions of dollars into critical infrastructure, climate action, and healthcare".
Historians note that Biden's presidency is still somewhat "in progress" in terms of historical judgment.
Major Accomplishments Cited by Supporters
Supporters and analysts point to legislative and foreign policy achievements:
•Legislative achievements: Despite holding the narrowest of partisan margins in Congress, he secured major pieces of legislation — the pandemic relief bill, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act.
•More specifically, his 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 Inflation Reduction Act stands out as the nation's largest investment ever in clean energy and climate action.
•The administration highlighted lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, passing gun safety reforms, improving healthcare for veterans, and bolstering foreign policy.
•The administration also oversaw job growth post-COVID-19 pandemic, reduced unemployment rates reaching historic lows, and diversified the federal judiciary, including appointing Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.
•Foreign policy: Abroad, Biden restored the United States as the anchor of the free world while leading the successful effort to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression. He repaired relations with NATO allies, and NATO today is strong and unified, with Finland and Sweden joining the alliance. At home, he healed an economy that had been distressed by the pandemic and put the nation on a path of sustainable growth.
The Council on Foreign Relations assessment described his presidency as one of remarkable accomplishment given the challenge of navigating a fractured United States through a fractured world.
Criticisms and Challenges
Critics and polls point to significant challenges that hurt his public standing:
•Low approval: U.S. President Joe Biden's public approval rating was close to the lowest level of his presidency at around 40%, with Americans unhappy about his handling of immigration and inflation. Another assessment noted his approval rating is at 41 per cent, the second-lowest of any US president since the Second World War.
•Inflation: Inflation surged to 9.1% in 2022 under his watch, eroding wages and public trust, with policies like excessive stimulus blamed for fueling it. Biden peaked out at 9% inflation with an average inflation rate of five percent. His administration oversaw significant economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession, though public dissatisfaction with inflation—which peaked at 9.1 percent in June 2022—contributed to declining approval ratings.
•Afghanistan withdrawal: The Afghanistan withdrawal (2021) was chaotic, resulting in 13 U.S. deaths and Taliban resurgence, labeled a foreign policy disaster. He completed the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan—a necessary move given that the mission was failing, even if the exit itself was disorderly and bloody.
•Immigration / Border: Patrols encountered some 2.2 million migrants crossing the southern border illegally in 2022, an all-time high. Border encounters hit records (over 10 million), overwhelming systems and drawing bipartisan rebuke. He also faced criticism over his handling of the southern border with Mexico as illegal border crossings led to concerns.
•Other critiques: Critics argue Biden exacerbated divisions and economic woes, and voters when asked for the worst things about his presidency cited: Inflation, the state of the southern border, and the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
•Even sympathetic assessments note he fell short of achieving his most ambitious objective: winning "the battle for the soul of this nation", his efforts to get even more resources into the economic bloodstream were blocked by a recalcitrant Congress, and he stumbled on immigration.
Bottom Line
•If measured by legislative productivity, alliance restoration, and scholarly ranking (14th), Biden is viewed as an above-average, consequential president who stabilized institutions after COVID-19 and Trump.
•If measured by public approval, inflation experience, border management, and the Afghanistan exit, many voters viewed him negatively — with polls showing his approval near 40% and some voters viewing him as the worst president in recent memory.
Most historians caution that it is too early for a definitive judgment, as new infrastructure and manufacturing plants are still in the pipeline and long-term effects of climate and industrial policy investments will take years to assess.