Poll ranks Obama as the 15th best president of US

Washington, July 2 (ANI): A new poll of leading presidential scholars by Siena College has ranked Barack Obama as the 15th best president of the United States, just below former President Bill Clinton, but ahead of Ronald Reagan.

According to Politico, in the overall ranking, Obama was rated two places below Clinton, who was the 13th best, and three better than Reagan, who is ranked as the 18th best.

"Obama's 15th ranking is slightly higher than other presidents who have taken office since the poll started nearly 30 years ago. Most start out at about number 20, said Siena statistics professor and poll director Douglas Lonnstrom.

Although he was ranked high on traits like imagination (6th), communication ability (7th) and intelligence (8th), Obama was rated poorly on background (32nd), which was composed of traits like family, education and experience.

The poll, which surveyed 238 presidential scholars at U.S. colleges and universities, asked scholars to rate the nation's 43 chief executives on 20 attributes ranging from legislative accomplishments to integrity and imagination.

According to the paper, Franklin D. Roosevelt again earned the top spot, as he has every time since the poll was first conducted in 1982. He and the Mount Rushmore presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson have consistently been the top five presidents in the poll's findings.

Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, was ranked at number 23 in 2002, but the last time Siena's presidential expert poll was conducted, he dropped to number 39, qualifying him as one of the five worst presidents. Bush came in at number 42 and second to last on issues such as handling the U.S. economy, foreign policy accomplishments and intelligence. (ANI)