As Americans return to work and school after the Presidents Day long weekend, a new Yahoo/YouGov poll finds that 40 percent now believe Donald Trump is “the worst president in American history.”
Another 12% think Trump is “worse than average” – meaning overall, a majority of Americans (about 53%) now view Trump as one of the least successful presidents ever.
Only one-third of Americans think Trump is the best president in U.S. history (12%) or better than average (21%). Another 9% think Trump is “in the middle.”
The survey of 1,704 U.S. adults was conducted ahead of Presidents’ Day, which roughly coincides with George Washington’s birthday and commemorates the first U.S. president and all those who have served after him.
Historians often use Presidents’ Day as an opportunity to rank commanders in chief. The Presidential Greatness Project released its latest key statistics in February 2024. Among them, 154 current and new members of the American Political Science Association awarded the number one ranking to Abraham Lincoln, with an average score of 93.87 from 0 to 100. Trump finished last with 10.92 points.
But that was before Trump’s comeback the following November, and before the sweeping changes in his first year back in office. So now, two years later, how does the average American judge Trump’s second term in relation to the previous presidential term?
Not very positive. Trump’s job approval rating (38%) is now at an all-time low; his disapproval rating (58%) is higher than ever. This dropped Trump’s approval rating by a full 20 percentage points. By comparison, former President Joe Biden is trailing by about 8 points at this stage of his presidency.
In particular, independents who tend to decide the election are unhappy with Trump. Before Trump took office again, more independents said they hoped he would make America a better place (41%) than said they hoped he would make it worse (34%). But today, only 23% of independents think Trump is making America better, while a solid majority (57%) think he is making it worse.
All told, for the first time, a majority of Americans now say Trump has made America worse (52%), not better (34%) — and that his second term has been worse than they expected (51%), not better (25%).
Americans also believe Trump has failed to meet the performance standards set by his Democratic predecessors.
Although Trump recently replaced Biden’s White House portrait with a photo of an automatic pen and described Biden as “by far, the worst president in American history” on a plaque below the image, 49% of Americans think Trump has “done worse than Biden.” Far fewer (41%) think Trump has done a better job than Biden.
Among independents, a majority (53%) now think Trump is doing worse than Biden. Only 33% think Trump has done a better job.
Trump is even worse off than former President Barack Obama — “one of the most divisive political figures in American history,” according to his new White House plaque. Fully 55% of Americans think Trump is doing worse than Obama. Only 37% think Trump has done a better job. Among independents, the figures were 57% and 16% respectively.
The president also faces a growing divide between Americans who think he is doing a good job and those who think he is doing a terrible job. Forty-nine percent now “strongly” disapprove of Trump’s job performance; just under half (22%) strongly approve.
The gap between Americans who think Trump is the worst president in U.S. history and those who think he is the best president in U.S. history is similar.
__________________
The Yahoo survey was conducted by YouGov and used a nationally representative sample of 1,704 U.S. adults interviewed online from February 9-12, 2026. The sample is weighted by gender, age, race, education, 2024 election turnout and presidential vote, party identification, and current voter registration status. Population-weighted targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Party identification is weighted based on the estimated distribution at the time of the election (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel and represent all U.S. adults. The margin of error is approximately 3%.