Reagan and Trump take top for Republicans’ best recent presidents: Pew

In Pew’s poll, conducted in July, 41% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents reported that in the past 40 years, no US President has done a better job than Ronald Regan. A very close 37 percent of those polled said the same of Trump.

On the Democrat side, respondents were more unified; the majority named Barack Obama as their top pick, at 58 percent. Bill Clinton, on the other hand, only hit 19 percent, while Joe Biden received a pitiful 7 percent.

Obama also took the top pick over US adults overall, with 32 percent putting him at the top, followed by Reagan at 23 percent, Trump at 19 percent, and Clinton at 12 percent. Former Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush received less than 4%, and are joined in that low-scoring category by Joe Biden.

In certain demographics of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, there were notably stark differences in terms of picking Reagan vs Trump for the best US President. Republicans 50 and up, for instance, are more likely to pick Reagan over Trump. But as soon as the age drops below 50, Trump reigns supreme.

Hispanics as a group were far more likely to pick Trump over Reagan, with numbers showing 43 percent and 26 percent respectively. It’s a bit closer between white people, with 45 percent choosing Reagan as compared to 37 percent going for Trump.

Upon controlling for college education, Pew found that Republicans and Republican-leaning independents with no degree went for Trump over Reagan at a rate of 41 percent to 37 percent, whereas those with a bachelor’s or more picked Reagan 51 percent to 27 percent.

When asked who the second-best recent president was, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who had picked Trump as number one typically said Reagan, and vice versa.