Rank every president from most conservative to liberal since 1920

[Make America Grumpy Again]

Here's mine:
Coolidge
Harding
Trump
W. Bush
Reagan
Hoover
Nixon
H.W. Bush
Ford
Clinton
Carter
Obama
Kennedy
Eisenhower
Biden
Johnson
Truman
Roosevelt

[Asenath Waite]

Here's my rough rankings judged in terms of across the board ideology though some undoubtably were to the left or right of others in one area.

W. Bush (Some might quibble with this but I think that in terms of across the board conservatism in terms of being socially right+a supply sider+militarism he takes the cake.)
Reagan
Coolidge
Harding
Trump
Ford
Hoover
HW Bush
Nixon
Eisenhower
Clinton
Carter
Obama
Biden
Kennedy
Truman
FDR
LBJ (IMO he's to FDR's left solely because of civil rights. I'd say that on economic issues they're a tie.)

[Sir Mohamed]

Trump
W. Bush
Reagan
Coolidge
Harding
Hoover
HW Bush
Nixon
Eisenhower
Carter
Ford
Clinton
Kennedy
Truman
Obama
Roosevelt
Johnson
Biden

[OSR stands with Israel]

I’m gonna do this by the policies they implement not on their personal beliefs cause I think that’s more important .


Coolidge
Harding
Hoover
Trump
W Bush
Reagan
Clinton(Most of his policy accomplishments happened after 1994 though personally he obviously was more liberal than all the Republican presidents on here )
HW Bush
Nixon
Eisenhower
Ford
Carter
Truman
Kennedy
Obama
Biden
FDR
LBJ

[Alben Barkley]

Coolidge
Hoover
Reagan
W. Bush
Harding
Trump
Nixon
HW Bush
Ford
Eisenhower
Clinton
Carter
Obama
Kennedy
Truman
Johnson
FDR
Biden

[Asenath Waite]

Why on earth is anybody ranking Biden as most liberal?

[Alben Barkley]

Why on earth is anybody ranking Biden as most liberal?

His policies and stated ideology are the most liberal, definitely in a vacuum and I’d argue even relative to time. The reason he hasn’t actually enacted as many sweeping changes as FDR or LBJ is he doesn’t have their huge Congressional majorities, not because he’s not as or more liberal than them. Remember those two were at the center of their parties most of their careers prior to becoming president as well.

[Asenath Waite]

Why on earth is anybody ranking Biden as most liberal?

His policies and stated ideology are the most liberal, definitely in a vacuum and I’d argue even relative to time. The reason he hasn’t actually enacted as many sweeping changes as FDR or LBJ is he doesn’t have their huge Congressional majorities, not because he’s not as or more liberal than them. Remember those two were at the center of their parties most of their careers prior to becoming president as well.

Those are fair points actually. I believe that FDR was actually perceived as slightly to the right of Hoover fiscally in 1932.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Why on earth is anybody ranking Biden as most liberal?

His policies and stated ideology are the most liberal, definitely in a vacuum and I’d argue even relative to time. The reason he hasn’t actually enacted as many sweeping changes as FDR or LBJ is he doesn’t have their huge Congressional majorities, not because he’s not as or more liberal than them. Remember those two were at the center of their parties most of their careers prior to becoming president as well.

Sure but I think it’s more important what a President actually is able to do then what their intentions are . Like there is a reason why I have Clinton higher than any Republican president from 1932-2000 with the exception of Reagan cause imo what a president manages to get done is more important.

[Make America Grumpy Again]

Why on earth is anybody ranking Biden as most liberal?

His policies and stated ideology are the most liberal, definitely in a vacuum and I’d argue even relative to time. The reason he hasn’t actually enacted as many sweeping changes as FDR or LBJ is he doesn’t have their huge Congressional majorities, not because he’s not as or more liberal than them. Remember those two were at the center of their parties most of their careers prior to becoming president as well.

Those are fair points actually. I believe that FDR was actually perceived as slightly to the right of Hoover fiscally in 1932.

This is part of the reason why I probably would've voted for Hoover without hindsight. While I respect FDR in terms of his New Deal, Hoover seemed like he was trying his best at the time. In some ways he was a proto-FDR but he was afraid of alienating big business. I'm curious on how different things might've turned out had Hoover been more of an interventionist. Perhaps he could've pulled it off or at least keep it close. I used to believe the narrative that Hoover was a more ineffective version of Coolidge but he was fairly progressive for his time.

[dw93]

Coolidge
Harding
W. Bush
Trump
Hoover
Reagan
HW Bush
Ford
Nixon
Clinton
Carter
Obama
Eisenhower
Kennedy
Biden
Truman
LBJ
FDR

This is based on the realities (both political and not) of the times each of these men served in. Had those realities been different, we'd likely have different results. Clinton would've likely governed more liberally had he had larger majorities his first two years and had any kind of congressional majorities after 1994, and Biden likley would surpass Truman if the filibuster were nuked and more of his agenda was passed, wheras Nixon, Ford, HW Bush, and even Eisenhower would've governed more conservatively had they had friendlier congresses or in the case of Eisenhower and to a lesser extent Nixon and Ford governed in more conservative times. I would also argue Carter would likely have instinctively governed more conservatively had the congress of his time been less liberal than it was.

[Mr. Smith]

Coolidge
Harding
W. Bush
Reagan
Trump
Hoover
Clinton
HW Bush
Ford
Obama
Biden
Nixon
Carter
Eisenhower
Kennedy
Truman
FDR
LBJ

[Spark]

Most conservative
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Ronald Reagan
Richard M. Nixon
Gerald R. Ford
Donald J. Trump
Warren G. Harding
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Dwight D. Eisenhower
George W. Bush
Joe Biden
Barack Obama
Jimmy Carter
Lyndon B. Johnson
John F. Kennedy
Harry S. Truman
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Most liberal

[VPH]

This is a super difficult exercise b/c my "fiscal conservative to liberal (left)" and "social conservative to liberal" rankings would look vastly different. Harding for instance was quite liberal on race, certainly more so than many Democrats at the time and even later. Some of the Presidents who pushed supply-side economics also spent huge amounts of money (Reagan, Dubya).

Most conservative
Calvin Coolidge
Ronald Reagan
Herbert Hoover
George W. Bush
Gerald R. Ford
Richard M. Nixon
Donald J. Trump
Warren G. Harding
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Jimmy Carter
John F. Kennedy
Barack Obama
Lyndon B. Johnson
Joe Biden
Harry S. Truman
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Most liberal

[Fuzzy Says: "Abolish NPR!"]

Coolidge
Harding
Hoover
Reagan
Trump
Ford
Bush 43
Bush 41
Carter
Clinton
Eisenhower
JFK
Nixon
Obama
Truman
LBJ
Biden
FDR

[All Along The Watchtower]

Every Republican President is more conservative than the last one, and every Democratic President is more liberal than the last one. That’s how it works.

[dw93]

Every Republican President is more conservative than the last one, and every Democratic President is more liberal than the last one. That’s how it works.

You're telling me George HW Bush was more conservative than Reagan? That all of LBJ's Democratic successors were, in an economic sense, more liberal than he was?

[Schiff for Senate]

Why on earth is anybody ranking Biden as most liberal?

His policies and stated ideology are the most liberal, definitely in a vacuum and I’d argue even relative to time. The reason he hasn’t actually enacted as many sweeping changes as FDR or LBJ is he doesn’t have their huge Congressional majorities, not because he’s not as or more liberal than them. Remember those two were at the center of their parties most of their careers prior to becoming president as well.

Agreed with this. FDR's massive spending was also in the midst of the Great Depression, whereas Biden's $1.9 trillion spending package occurred in a much more stable economy. Sure, LBJ supported Medicare and Medicaid and FDR supported Social Security, but Biden supports all that and more (like single-payer healthcare). On social issues, for obvious reasons, Biden is much more progressive than FDR and to the left of even LBJ (which is obviously understandable).

[Property Representative of the Harold Holt Swimming Centre]

Coolidge
Ford
H. W. Bush
Eisenhower
Reagan
Harding
Hoover
Trump
W. Bush
Nixon
Carter
Kennedy
Biden
Clinton
Truman
Obama
LBJ
FDR

Based on a small c definition of conservatism.

[RINO Tom]

Why on earth is anybody ranking Biden as most liberal?

His policies and stated ideology are the most liberal, definitely in a vacuum and I’d argue even relative to time. The reason he hasn’t actually enacted as many sweeping changes as FDR or LBJ is he doesn’t have their huge Congressional majorities, not because he’s not as or more liberal than them. Remember those two were at the center of their parties most of their careers prior to becoming president as well.

Those are fair points actually. I believe that FDR was actually perceived as slightly to the right of Hoover fiscally in 1932.

Eh, I think FDR’s words on the campaign trail in that situation should carry about as much weight as Howard Dean attacking Bush 43 on the budget/deficit “from the right” … we all knew who was actually more left-leaning before, during and after that.  And it wasn’t Bush.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Reagan
Coolidge
Harding
W Bush
Nixon
Hoover
Trump
H.W. Bush
Eisenhower
Clinton
Ford
Carter
JFK
Obama
Biden (beliefs during actual presidency)
Truman
LBJ
FDR

Economically one could argue for Coolidge or Harding to be to the right of Reagan. Trump would probably shift left in that case (ironically), while socially he's either hard right (esp. for its era) on a number of issues, or surprisingly centrist on other ones, maybe center-right but much to the left of the party average.

At this point i think Trump is for example more to the left economically than Clinton was for example or about the same, Trump is very keynesian and less a balancing budgets type of person, even if fighting inequality wasn't a priority and even if he still lowered taxes for the rich. I mean proposals like the "build the wall" for example show that reducing debt or spending wasn't really what he wanted to do.

Similarly Hoover also really isn't that economically conservative, but that's mostly when you compare him for Coolidge or Harding. Yes, you can blame him for not dealing accurately with the crisis and believing in fairytales, but the crisis wasn't caused exactly by Hoover, but more because of Coolidge and the naive attitude of the 1920s which were in hindsight horrible years. Coolidge also wasn't the type of person that was charismatic, working behind the scenes and being impersonal and asocial when it came to problems the country faced (like hurricane response). The 1920s were also the years with lots of crime, and when alcohol was forbidden, leading to a number of issues and problems, overall a very overrated decade, that led to miserable decades in the 1930s and also 1940s, and only regarded well because there was no war & pandemic and there was no economical crisis before '29.

And for Harding, we unfortunately have little to judge him on, but based on wikipedia entry (i really have no other way), he probably was very conservative too, and similar to Coolidge, but obviously i could be wrong here. But back than, even the Democrats were conservative, often even more socially than the republicans. Social progressives where mostly Republicans from the north, while economical progressives were Dixiecrats (or economical populists), for example Huey Long.

The only thing I know about Harding is that he pardonned Debs, something Wilson refused to do, and strengthens my belief that i'd rather have a beer with Harding than with Wilson or that Harding was the better human being, and we're not even talking about the racism of Wilson or that he is basically "the godfather" of the modern USA's foreign policy.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Why on earth is anybody ranking Biden as most liberal?

His policies and stated ideology are the most liberal, definitely in a vacuum and I’d argue even relative to time. The reason he hasn’t actually enacted as many sweeping changes as FDR or LBJ is he doesn’t have their huge Congressional majorities, not because he’s not as or more liberal than them. Remember those two were at the center of their parties most of their careers prior to becoming president as well.

Those are fair points actually. I believe that FDR was actually perceived as slightly to the right of Hoover fiscally in 1932.

This is part of the reason why I probably would've voted for Hoover without hindsight. While I respect FDR in terms of his New Deal, Hoover seemed like he was trying his best at the time. In some ways he was a proto-FDR but he was afraid of alienating big business. I'm curious on how different things might've turned out had Hoover been more of an interventionist. Perhaps he could've pulled it off or at least keep it close. I used to believe the narrative that Hoover was a more ineffective version of Coolidge but he was fairly progressive for his time.

Hoover was only a year president before the crisis happened, and his right-wing ness on economy is a bit overrated. Of course nobody would return to the economic policies of the 1920s after FDR to some extent. Economically Coolidge is easily the most conservative and it isn't even close here (unless Harding but you can't easily judge that if you were like president for a month only. You have to judge on what he was prior to his presidency).

The only way you'll have a president who will economically be as conservative as Coolidge is by electing a libertarian. And even a Gary Johnson type of person would still not come close to that, you would basically have to elect a widely considered lunatic libertarian for this era in order to get close, or someone like Ted Cruz who even goes further than the Tea Party politics.

[Skill and Chance]

Why on earth is anybody ranking Biden as most liberal?

His policies and stated ideology are the most liberal, definitely in a vacuum and I’d argue even relative to time. The reason he hasn’t actually enacted as many sweeping changes as FDR or LBJ is he doesn’t have their huge Congressional majorities, not because he’s not as or more liberal than them. Remember those two were at the center of their parties most of their careers prior to becoming president as well.

Those are fair points actually. I believe that FDR was actually perceived as slightly to the right of Hoover fiscally in 1932.

This is part of the reason why I probably would've voted for Hoover without hindsight. While I respect FDR in terms of his New Deal, Hoover seemed like he was trying his best at the time. In some ways he was a proto-FDR but he was afraid of alienating big business. I'm curious on how different things might've turned out had Hoover been more of an interventionist. Perhaps he could've pulled it off or at least keep it close. I used to believe the narrative that Hoover was a more ineffective version of Coolidge but he was fairly progressive for his time.

You need a setup where Davis or Smith is the non-interventionist Dem president (re)elected in 1928 and Hoover defeats him in 1932 for this to work out IMO.