Over President’s Day weekend, Presidential scholars updated their Presidential ranking list to include President Joe Biden. In their update, President Biden was ranked 14th, putting him in the upper tier of American presidents. With this recent ranking, and as we continue to head into the 2024 election, I thought it would be good to look back at President Biden’s three years in office and examine his accomplishments and shortcomings to see if his spot on the Presidential ranking list is accurate or just a fluke of Presidential scholars to show the President favorably ahead of the election.
One of the biggest things to note about this list that grabs you is that despite being ranked 14th his approval rating is at 41 percent according to Gallup. This is the lowest of any president since Gallup began taking their poll back with President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Since taking office we have seen a steady decrease, in Biden’s approval rating, proving his somewhat ineffectiveness as a leader. While Biden has had some accomplishments under his belt as president, in an overall look at his presidency, you will find they are few and far between when it comes to his failures and mishandlings.
According to WhiteHouse.Gov, some of Biden’s top accomplishments are lowering family costs, job creation/ lowering unemployment, and rebuilding American infrastructure. All of these accomplishments are things that would fall under the great term of “Bidenomics”, which refers to the Biden administration’s greater plan to fix the American economy. It is good to take note of Biden’s economic ability. He has focused a large portion of his presidency on the economy and trying to help American families after two years of a shafted economy because of COVID-19. The biggest issue Biden has run into with the economy is inflation, and while most average Americans and Fox News anchors will still complain about inflation, looking at the numbers will show that inflation has been consistently down since April of 2023. Prices are still not back to what they were before COVID, but that has less to do with Biden and more to do with American grocery companies.
Another big win for Biden as president is the second half of his domestic policy which focuses on support for minority communities nationwide. Biden has not shied away from making sure communities are protected from hate. He has championed things such as more infrastructure support for Black families and communities, protections of women’s health and reproductive rights, and safeguards for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
While Biden has accomplished some successes during his tenure as president, his leadership shortcomings have made up a larger portion of his time in office. Perhaps Biden’s biggest failure as a president and what some would consider his biggest blunder is his handling of Foreign Policy. Since taking office, Biden has faced two major global conflicts. He was faced with the War in Ukraine, which is now going on two years old, and more recently the conflict between the nations of Israel and Palestine.
The Biden administration has not been shy about their continued support for Israel. This decision to back them has caused much controversy for Biden. Several experts have called the White House’s response to the Middle Eastern conflicts one of the biggest foreign policy blunders in recent decades. The Biden administration continues to fund Israel, after reports and videos of the true terrors that the Israeli military and government have committed against the Palestinian people. This support had caused great pain to Biden and his re-election campaign. The biggest critics of his administration’s policy on the issue have resoundingly come from young voters namely Gen-Z.
It is hard to say whether Biden will be remembered fondly as a President. He still has a few more months in office and if re-elected four more years. There is much that will continue to happen and develop between now and then, and it will be up to history if he continues to keep his 14th-place spot in the rankings of all the Presidents who came before and will come after him.