Before we get to Gallup's data, allow me to point out how terribly unfair its results are. To Richard Nixon, that is. 

Admittedly, it might be a bit early to start conducting polls about Joe Biden's legacy. In fact, their data on Donald Trump demonstrates the potential pitfalls of instant legacification, a word I just made up and plan to trademark as soon as I can muster any ambition whatsoever. However, let's just say that the Protection Racket Media will start off in a giant hole for its upcoming campaign to spin Biden's aphasiac disaster of a presidency into A Historic Moment for America.

Here's what Gallup found in its most recent poll:

Many more Americans expect history to judge Joe Biden’s presidency unfavorably rather than favorably. Fifty-four percent of U.S. adults believe Biden will be remembered as a “below average” (37%) or “poor” (17%) president, while 19% say he will be evaluated as “outstanding” (6%) or “above average” (13%). Another 26% think he will be regarded as “average.”

Compared with nine recent presidents included in the new Gallup poll, Biden rates most similarly to Richard Nixon, who has a -42 net rating (12% outstanding or above average versus 54% below average or poor). Biden receives more “poor” reviews than Nixon does (37% vs. 30%), but Biden gets more outstanding or above-average ratings.

The question here is why Biden generates more polarized views. Is it a lack of historical perspective that increases the negativity, or partisanship of the moment that increases positivity? Most of the "above average" ratings come from Democrats, which tends to support the latter thesis, although it doesn't necessarily make them wrong. Even with that, though, only 44% rank him above average or better, even in the present partisan moment. 

However, independents are probably a good measure that dispenses with partisanship, and the news there is grim indeed for Biden. Only six percent of independents think Biden will be viewed as an outstanding president, and another nine percent choose "above average." Fifty-one percent of unaffiliated respondents rank Biden's place in history as below average (21%) or poor (30%). 

What about Donald Trump? His results are hardly a mystery, since he just won the popular vote for a second non-consecutive term. Polls have shown voters re-assessing his first term more positively over the course of the election cycle, probably in comparison to Biden's performance. Gallup has a clearer look at that phenomenon, which surprisingly isn't led by Republicans:

Trump’s ratings have improved substantially from when he left office in January 2021 in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the peak in U.S. deaths from COVID-19. At that time, 29% of Americans thought history would judge Trump as an outstanding or above-average president, 10% as average, and 61% below average or poor.

The -32 net rating Trump had in 2021 has improved to -4. Since 2021, there has been a larger decrease in below-average or poor evaluations of Trump’s first term (down 17 points) than an increase in outstanding or above-average ratings (up 11 points).

The biggest decline in below-average or poor ratings of Trump has come among independents (falling from 63% to 47%), but all party groups show meaningful declines in negative assessments of his first term. Most of the increase in outstanding or above-average ratings has come among Republicans, from 72% to 86%.

We had a national poll on this topic in early November, too. Trump got nearly a majority in that survey. 

Perhaps history will be a little kinder to Biden than the present moment, but ... don't count on it. The change of administration will likely uncover some unsavory details about the Biden administration's internal operations, especially at the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and even State's censorship programs. We will also probably uncover even more evidence of Biden Inc's corruption and how much of a role The Big Guy played directly in the influence peddling. (The National Archives finally uncorked its photographic evidence of Biden meeting up with Hunter's business partners, for instance.) And as evidence of the cover-up around Biden's obvious senility emerges, expect the legacy to reflect one of the worst scandals in Oval Office history -- one that far outstrips Nixon's sins. 

The Protection Racket Media might try hard to prevent it ... but accountability will come, and hopefully right soon.