Rate the Presidents results:
In early December on the LJ side, I did a ‘rate the Presidents’ competition to see what my readers thought of the US Presidents. The raw results and comments are still there - and these are the results, sorted by Mean (statistical results under the cut; the spreadsheet itself is here).
Sets: One (Washington -> Harrison), Two (Tyler->McKinley), Three (TRoosevelt->Carter); Four (Reagan->GW Bush)
What I found interesting was the high SD for the more controversial picks - e.g, President A was good in this area, horrible in that area. Some were problematic; how do you rate a President who served for very little time and died in office? The breakdown seemed to be: (sorted by Median)
1-3 (horrible), 4 (bad), 5 (mediocre), 6 (nice try), 7 (pretty decent), 8 (darn good), 9 (walks on water).
President Mean Median Std Dev 42 George W Bush 1.35 1.00 0.88 30 Hoover 2.78 2.00 1.47 15 Buchanan 2.79 2.00 1.79 36 Nixon 3.08 3.00 1.19 28 Harding 3.09 3.00 1.28 13 Fillmore 3.42 4.00 1.27 9 WH Harrison 3.72 3.00 2.31 29 Coolidge 3.74 4.00 1.72 14 Pierce 3.83 4.00 1.34 18 Grant 4.11 4.00 1.80 19 Hayes 4.26 4.00 1.29 39 Reagan 4.31 3.00 2.13 40 George HW Bush 4.41 5.00 1.48 17 Andrew Johnson 4.42 5.00 1.73 12 Taylor 4.44 4.00 1.12 23 Benjamin Harrison 4.47 5.00 1.82 10 Tyler 4.56 5.00 1.61 8 Van Buren 4.61 5.00 1.50 20 Garfield 4.78 5.00 1.75 27 Wilson 4.78 5.00 2.39 21 Arthur 4.83 5.00 1.50 24 McKinley 4.95 5.00 1.76 37 Ford 5.00 5.00 1.19 11 Polk 5.26 5.00 1.52 26 Taft 5.26 5.00 1.80 6 John Quincy Adams 5.39 6.00 1.59 38 Carter 5.42 5.00 1.82 22 Cleveland 5.58 6.00 1.50 35 Lyndon Johnson 5.78 7.00 2.15 7 Jackson 5.79 7.00 2.34 2 Adams 6.04 6.50 1.97 5 Monroe 6.21 6.50 1.57 4 Madison 6.54 7.00 1.82 34 Kennedy 6.62 7.00 1.55 33 Eisenhower 6.67 7.00 1.65 41 Clinton 7.03 7.00 1.38 32 Truman 7.29 8.00 1.84 43 Obama 7.71 8.00 1.87 3 Jefferson 8.00 9.00 2.07 25 Teddy Roosevelt 8.04 8.00 1.71 31 Franklin Roosevelt 8.12 8.00 2.01 1 Washington 8.57 9.00 1.88 16 Lincoln 8.74 9.00 2.17