I was curious how Trump and Biden stacked up against, well, everyone in the eyes of Americans. So YouGov did a poll. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202... - ThreadSky

pbump.com • 38 days ago

I was curious how Trump and Biden stacked up against, well, everyone in the eyes of Americans. So YouGov did a poll.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/03/18/toxic-presidents-trump-biden-partisanship/

Comments

w1ts3nd555.bsky.social•38 days ago

This says as much about us and polarizing media as it does about, say, Biden or Zelenskyy.

w1ts3nd555.bsky.social•38 days ago

Another thought:
Lincoln was loathed by southern Democrats and Copperheads, and establishment leaders mistrusted his abilities early on. He proved the doubters wrong and history made clear that he was on the right side of the major questions of the day.

I bet he once was where we put Biden today.

w1ts3nd555.bsky.social•38 days ago

… not to say that Biden is his equal (far from it). Only that perceptions change drastically over time.

janmarie.bsky.social•38 days ago

Agreed.

jack-key.bsky.social•38 days ago

Who’s us?

w1ts3nd555.bsky.social•38 days ago

Americans.

enallagma.bsky.social•38 days ago

Zelenskyy has never favored or aligned himself (or Ukraine) with either political party.

w1ts3nd555.bsky.social•38 days ago

Quite true.

Nevertheless, right-wing media are suddenly spreading Russian lies about him and suddenly the MAGA base views him with deep suspicion.

He didn’t change. MAGA aligned with Russia.

katbuns.bsky.social•38 days ago

😎 would love to see this poll everyday.

pamdorra.bsky.social•38 days ago

Since it’s been the trump show for 10 years and almost no news ever about Biden unless it was negative, or about his age, or propaganda on the right, and so many pieces about Trump supporters but not any about dems, I guess it’s no surprise we are here now.

postmistress.bsky.social•38 days ago

Pretty crazy that Nixon’s net favorability is positive among Republicans.

lfkgirl.bsky.social•38 days ago

Barely

narobin.com•38 days ago

Now that is fascinating so many levels, it's interesting (and fits more of a patten than I'd expect) how the past world leaders are viewed

tjmzj.bsky.social•38 days ago

Fascinating.

302czar.bsky.social•38 days ago

Cleopatra??

billnemacheck.bsky.social•38 days ago

As played by Elizabeth Taylor, naturally.

startabuzz.bsky.social•38 days ago

@pbump.com What are the quadrants in this graph? More this, more or less that?

isammis.bsky.social•38 days ago

Reagan is disappointingly high among democrats. He’s frankly the first author of our current fiasco.

goldenretrieverear.bsky.social•38 days ago

It is a triumph of the right wing propaganda machine that Republicans think Biden is as bad as Hitler.

timi.on.computer•38 days ago

Who are the names to the left of Hitler?

antonioslamsci.bsky.social•38 days ago

Joseph Stalin and Jimmy Carter, respectively

haskell.bsky.social•38 days ago

a little too on the nose

haskell.bsky.social•38 days ago

is Ho Chi Minh here as "Minh"?
Where are Zedong, Xiaoping and Jinping?

crocketttavern.bsky.social•38 days ago

China is such a huge part of world history and Americans know so little about it. Sad, and it will hurt us under our current U.S. regime.

crocketttavern.bsky.social•38 days ago

And I know Ho Chi Min was Vietnamese. How different the world would be today if that racist Woodrow Wilson had listened to him. 💔🤬

haskell.bsky.social•38 days ago

who's the orange dot below Hitler

grimmilestone.bsky.social•38 days ago

Elon 😆

kellyo101.bsky.social•38 days ago

Republicans think he's just a teeny bit worse than Hitler.

bearman02.bsky.social•38 days ago

I missed Stalin and Mao in there, but wondered how they did relative to Pooty Put (Putin)

crocketttavern.bsky.social•38 days ago

I love that you’re referring to him the way Ukrainians do. 💙💛🌻🇺🇦

astroattorney.com•38 days ago

Maybe someday we'll come together as a country again *sigh* but I fear never again.

blackholefun.bsky.social•38 days ago

I think you're brilliant and I read most everything you write, but this chart is awful and you should just delete it. It isn't going to make any sense to the median person.

shriketron.bsky.social•38 days ago

The ancient historical figures are so long ago in another country, of course the "parties" are basically neutral about it, and it's just not useful but noise in this graph.

crocketttavern.bsky.social•38 days ago

I disagree. People know something about Cleopatra, for example, thru popular media. Not always historically correct, of course, but useful for comparison.

blackholefun.bsky.social•38 days ago

Really good way to put it.

cassandrarabbit.bsky.social•37 days ago

I guess I’m a “median” person, because I’m having trouble understanding it. Is it showing that Republicans dislike Hitler more than Democrats do? I also wonder how much the respondents even know about any of the historical figures apart from a brief textbook mention.

heliant.bsky.social•38 days ago

I wonder if they tested for literacy level BEFORE they asked the questions???

jcech.bsky.social•38 days ago

FDR has a 1 point higher Strongly Favorable than the lesser Roosevelt and should therefore be ranked above Teddy in the graph. ;-)

etdanslesilence.bsky.social•38 days ago

Michelle Obama is a 158. That's the sole reason her name doesn't appear.

dukephoto.bsky.social•38 days ago

Alexander the Great was all about branding

hyperlexic.bsky.social•38 days ago

Modi far too popular with Dems imo

chileboy.bsky.social•38 days ago

In looking at the article, you can glean a lot more nuance. A full 70% of respondents didn't know enough about Modi to have an opinion, so it ends up being a pretty small sample.

gspeng.bsky.social•38 days ago

That stuck out for me, too

gspeng.bsky.social•38 days ago

The whole graph is depressing. Shows how little Americans follow international events

crocketttavern.bsky.social•38 days ago

Truth.

carter-neal.bsky.social•38 days ago

Is the dem rep split in the population 50-50? Chart implies that, but I expect it is a touch misleading in equating the axes…

billnemacheck.bsky.social•38 days ago

I assume that's George Jefferson.

crocketttavern.bsky.social•38 days ago

😂

lsfinn.bsky.social•38 days ago

Can you add a time dimension and use contemporaneous approval numbers? Curious if this evidence of polarization growth & if so did the polarization grow equally on both ends of spectrum and when.

madlove.bsky.social•38 days ago

Quelle suprise. Americans love war criminals

gargalorian.bsky.social•38 days ago

Berlusconi has higher favorability among democrats than Marx? Berlusconi? How? Do they not understand that he was Trump before Trump? How genuine can your antipathy/resistance be if you can’t understand something this basic?

I mean seriously, the bunga bunga parties guy? Wtf?

goldenretrieverear.bsky.social•38 days ago

Communism killed way more people and destroyed way more lives than Berlusconi.