President Donald Trump has sparked fresh debate over America’s presidential legacy after sharing his own ranking of U.S. presidents, placing himself at the top while relegating six former presidents to the “Below Average” category.
Trump posted the ranking on Truth Social, describing himself as “The Greatest” president. The list places historical figures including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Franklin D. Roosevelt in the “Great” tier, but below Trump’s self-assessment.
The president also classified several former leaders as “Near Great,” while former President Bill Clinton was placed in the “Average” category.
Six presidents were placed below average in Trump’s ranking, according to reports. The list also included a separate “Failures” category, where Trump placed Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Jimmy Carter, Ulysses S. Grant and Warren Harding.
The ranking has drawn attention because it differs sharply from assessments by presidential historians and political scholars. Trump has historically received low marks in expert surveys. In the 2021 C-SPAN Presidential Historians Survey, he ranked 41st out of 44 presidents, ahead of only Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan.
A separate 2026 YouGov survey found that 55% of Americans rated Trump as either “poor” or “below average” when evaluating the 20 presidents included in that poll. Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and George Washington received the highest shares of outstanding-or-above-average ratings.
Trump’s latest ranking comes amid continued scrutiny of his presidency. His job approval stood at 34% in a recent Pew Research Center survey, lower than most recent presidents at comparable points in their terms.
Trump’s ranking is subjective and does not represent an academic presidential survey. However, his assessment is likely to fuel renewed political debate over how his presidency—and those of his predecessors—will ultimately be judged by historians and the American public.