I decided to focus on the 1990's presidential poll instead of the 1962 poll while I was deciding my own presidential poll because the 1990's poll is more recent and, therefore, includes more presidents. Actually, my poll is not so much a poll since I was the only person polled. While my research led me to make some changes I want to focus particularly on why I improved the rankings of Ronald Reagan and Calvin Coolidge while decreasing the ranking of Jimmy Carter. This paper will also discuss why I decided to rank Bill Clinton at 33 and George Bush at 34.

An important thing to focus on when ranking the presidents of the United States is the success, positive or negative, of their policies and decisions. This is not always an easy thing to do to the more recent presidents. Their success based on this criterion is still subject to change as their policies and ideas continue to have an affect on society. In doing my own rankings of the presidents I tried to focus not only on this but also their character while in office, popularity, and their success in getting their programs approved by Congress. It seems logical to me that a successful president would generally be popular m

I moved former president Ronald Reagan up from 24th to 16th. Reagan had an excellent ability to display consistent optimism and self-confidence that endeared him to millions. He had an excellent public image that made him a very popular president despite some shortcomings including a huge increase in the national debt as he cut taxes while drastically increasing military spending. Political Scientists at the time referred to President Reagan as being Teflon-coated. Nothing stuck to him: not revelations of wrongdoing by aides, not occasional failures in foreign policy, not evidence that astrology may have influenced some of his decisions. Domestically, Reagan was able to accomplish many of his campaign promises; he reestablished the dominance of the presidency over Congress, reduced the growth of the national government, gave more power to the states, lowered taxes, expanded the military, passed budget cuts of $39 billion dollars, passed a 25% tax cut, and inflation dropped from 13.5% to about 5%. In foreign relations he fought the Russians in the Cold War and the public loved him for it. In 1987 Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed a historic treaty in Washington that would eliminate their intermediate-range nuclear forces. Approaching his 78th birthday as his presidency drew to a close, Reagan was seen by many as the personification of Uncle Sam or as the grandfather of the nation. A scholar had called the presidency an "awesome burden," but Reagan neared the end of his second term as a remarkably untroubled man. Reagan was popular, passed many of his original promises, represented his party well, and seemed unfazed during the bad times. To best judge his presidency we should wait another fifty years but for right now I will keep him at 16.

Just behind Clinton I rank George Bush. Former President Bush falls behind Clinton mainly for only being elected to one term and is ranked so low for his inability to solve domestic problems. The House, with many Republicans in opposition killed a compromise deficit-reduction plan. As a result, the government was almost forced to shut down for lack of money while a budget proposal was drafted. Bush often compromised with Democratic leaders and often took middle-of-the-road positions around which a consensus could be built. His own party often opposed him and that is never a good sign for a president. He also endorsed a health-insurance tax credit for poor families and a tax credit for first-time homebuyers, but Bush vetoed the final bill because it raised taxes on the wealthy. To me that sounds like a president who is controlled by lobbyists and has no place any where near the elite presidents of our nation. Bush did play a key role in handling foreign affairs. But the problems with the economy were too much

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1878
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)