If the race to be considered the Most Over-Rated President in American history was won at a canter by Ronald Wilson Reagan, there was a much keener contest to earn the title Most Under-Rated president. No fewer than 36 of the 42 men to have held the post received votes in this ballot.
As before, ballots were scored on a 3,2,1 points system (three for most under-rated etc). If no order of preference was specified, each nominee was awarded 2 points. The results are given thus: total number of points collected, followed, in brackets, by each man’s ranking in the Wall Street Journal’s 2005 survey of historians.
THE MOST UNDER-RATED PRESIDENTS
1. 49 (8) Dwight Eisenhower
2. 44 (34) Jimmy Carter
3. 42 (9) James Polk
4. 39 (18) Lyndon B Johnson
5. 37 (23) Calvin Coolidge
6. 36 (32) Richard Nixon
7.
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