Presidents’ Day is actually Washington’s Birthday. That makes sense when you consider how Washington is still a much beloved president. And according to a recent survey, the most favoured president.
What is worth nothing is that most Americans know little of the 19th century presidents, save the big names like Lincoln, Grant, and (Teddy) Roosevelt. Not until the other Roosevelt (FDR) do we start seeing a decline in “Not Sure” responses. But, by far, Washington and Lincoln are the most favoured presidents.
The questions for all of us on this holiday are who’s your favourite? And how does he stack up? (Get it? Eh, chart humour.)
Madison and Reagan top my chart. I have only a slightly lower opinion of government and politics than did they.
I imagine that Madison polled fairly well because we learn about his role in the whole founding of the country. But most of those early presidents don’t have particularly bad unfavourable numbers. Reagan, like many ‘modern’ presidents that many people clearly remember, suffers from our current sense of partisan divide and the not-yet-present lens of history.