A balanced look at Joe Biden's presidency needs current assessments — I'll gather his record, polling and historian rankings to give you a neutral overview.
Whether Joe Biden was a "good" president is contested and depends on which criteria are emphasized. Evaluations of his presidency (2021-2025) are generally described as mixed and consequential.
Assessments Summarized as Mixed
One summary describes the record as combining "substantive policy accomplishments—in infrastructure, industry policy, drug pricing, social supports and judicial appointments—with glaring failures and political liabilities in Afghanistan, inflation control, border politics, and messaging; assessments therefore depend heavily on whether one weights durable institutional change and legislation or immediate crises and political consequences more heavily".
Points Cited by Supporters
Supporters point to major legislation:
•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)"
•More detailed description: "the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan addressed COVID-19 economic damage; the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was the largest infrastructure investment in decades; the CHIPS Act committed $52 billion to domestic semiconductor manufacturing; and the Inflation Reduction Act ($369 billion in climate and clean energy investment) became the largest climate legislation in US history"
On foreign and domestic policy:
•He "unified NATO allies in response to Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and authorized the drone strike killing al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in July 2022"
•He "unified NATO and marshaled over $100 billion in Western military aid for Ukraine following Russia's 2022 invasion"
•He "expanded ACA subsidies through the Inflation Reduction Act, capped insulin costs at $35 per month for Medicare recipients, and allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies for the first time"
Points Cited by Critics
Critics focus on economic and foreign-policy setbacks:
•"Inflation peaking at 9.1% and the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal were the primary drags on his approval throughout his term"
•Inflation "peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 — the highest in 40 years"
•He "completed the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan that resulted in the death of 13 U.S. service members, an effort that was widely criticized"
•"The president also faced criticism over his handling of the southern border with Mexico as illegal border crossings led to concerns about his handling of immigration"
His age and 2024 campaign also became a major issue. He "dropped out of the presidential race under intense pressure from senior Democratic officials, donors, and members of Congress following his disastrous June 27 debate performance against Trump, in which he appeared visibly confused and struggled repeatedly to finish sentences".
Public Approval and Historian Rankings
Public approval was low by historical standards:
•"Gallup found that Biden had an average approval rating of 42.2% throughout his presidency"
•"Gallup reported that 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 "left office on January 20, 2025, with a 38% approval rating according to Gallup — the lowest exit approval since Jimmy Carter"
•Also described as "Biden left office with a 38% Gallup approval rating — the lowest exit approval since Jimmy Carter (34% in 1981)"
Historians and polling of the public have diverged:
•A Presidents Day survey of "154 historians and presidential experts placed Joe Biden at about 14th and ranked Trump last"
•"The 2024 edition of the Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey has Biden in 14th place, just ahead of Woodrow Wilson and Ronald Reagan"
•By contrast, "A recent poll conducted by J.L. Partners for the Daily Mail has placed President Joe Biden at the bottom of a ranking of the last nine presidents of the United States, making him the worst-rated president in modern history, according to respondents"
In short, historians surveyed in 2024 tended to rank Biden in the top third (14th) for legislative and alliance achievements, while contemporaneous public approval polls placed him near historic lows, driven largely by inflation and the Afghanistan withdrawal.