Obama elected as 15th best US president

Washington, Jul 2: The Siena College poll survey ranked Barack Obama as the 15th best US president.

The poll surveyed 238 presidential scholars at US colleges and universities, rated Obama two places below Clinton, who was 13th best, and three better than Reagan, who is ranked as the 18th best.

The Siena College poll has started 30 years ago. Franklin D. Roosevelt earned the top spot, as he has every time since the poll was first conducted in 1982.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson have consistently been the top five presidents in the poll"s findings.

"Obama is doing a little better, but he"s generally in the same ballpark," said Douglas Lonnstrom, Siena statistics professor and poll director.

Obama"s predecessor, George W. Bush joined Harding, Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce, all of whom have consistently ranked as the worst presidents since the poll started, in the bottom five.

OneIndia News