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Same Days in Office

Every president ranked on their first 655 days only — the exact tenure Donald J. Trump has reached today. Apples-to-apples on day count, no mechanical bias from longer terms.

Last updated November 06, 2026

 

The fair comparison — same day-count, shared data set

Every president ranked on their first 655 days only — the day count the current administration has reached. Trump II can be directly compared to every previous president because they’re all being measured over the same tenure window, not their full term.

Lower mean rank = ranks better on more metrics. Minimum metrics for inclusion in this “fair” view: 15. Of the 29 historical terms on file, 26 are long enough to be eligible (served at least 655 days).

Rank President / Term Party Mean rank Metrics
1 Bill Clinton II D 5.14 22
2 Bill Clinton I D 7.57 21
3 Barack Obama II D 7.77 22
4 Donald J. Trump I R 8.00 22
5 Ronald Reagan II R 8.05 19
6 George W. Bush II R 8.59 22
7 George W. Bush I R 8.73 22
8 Barack Obama I D 9.59 22
9 Joseph R. Biden I D 10.18 22
10 George H.W. Bush I R 10.29 21
11 Donald J. Trump II CURRENT R 10.46 22
12 Jimmy Carter I D 11.33 15
13 Ronald Reagan I R 12.33 18

All eligible terms

The widest possible sample — every term that served at least 655 days, including older ones with sparse metric coverage. Read the metric-count column with that in mind: a 2-metric mean is noise, a 22-metric mean is signal.

Rank President / Term Party Mean rank Metrics
1 Calvin Coolidge I R 4.00 1
2 Bill Clinton II D 5.14 22
3 Bill Clinton I D 7.57 21
4 Barack Obama II D 7.77 22
5 Harry S. Truman I D 7.83 6
6 Donald J. Trump I R 8.00 22
7 Ronald Reagan II R 8.05 19
8 George W. Bush II R 8.59 22
9 George W. Bush I R 8.73 22
10 John F. Kennedy I D 9.18 11
11 Lyndon B. Johnson II D 9.38 13
12 Barack Obama I D 9.59 22
13 Joseph R. Biden I D 10.18 22
14 George H.W. Bush I R 10.29 21
15 Donald J. Trump II CURRENT R 10.46 22
16 Harry S. Truman II D 10.88 8
17 Jimmy Carter I D 11.33 15
18 Dwight D. Eisenhower I R 11.50 8
19 Richard M. Nixon I R 12.00 13
20 Ronald Reagan I R 12.33 18
21 Franklin D. Roosevelt II D 12.50 2
22 Franklin D. Roosevelt (term 3) D 12.60 5
23 Gerald R. Ford I R 12.79 14
24 Herbert Hoover I R 13.00 2
25 Dwight D. Eisenhower II R 13.80 10
26 Franklin D. Roosevelt I D 14.50 2

Split by who the metrics help most

The same 24 metrics split naturally into three cohorts. A president might rank near the top for asset holders and middle for ladder climbers, or vice versa. Both pictures are real; neither alone is the whole story.

Asset holders

Metrics owners benefit from: equity returns, bond yields, HPI, credit spreads.

Rank President / Term Party Mean rank Metrics
1 Bill Clinton II D 2.00 2
2 Ronald Reagan II R 3.00 1
3 Barack Obama I D 4.50 2
4 Barack Obama II D 5.00 2
5 Donald J. Trump II CURRENT R 5.00 2
6 Franklin D. Roosevelt I D 5.00 1
7 Dwight D. Eisenhower I R 6.00 1
8 Donald J. Trump I R 7.00 2
9 Harry S. Truman II D 7.00 1
10 George W. Bush II R 7.50 2
11 Gerald R. Ford I R 8.00 1
12 Joseph R. Biden I D 11.00 2
13 Dwight D. Eisenhower II R 11.00 1
14 Harry S. Truman I D 13.00 1
15 George H.W. Bush I R 14.00 1

Ladder climbers

Metrics working-age wage-earners benefit from: payrolls, real wages, LFP, construction + leisure jobs, mortgage affordability, savings rate.

Rank President / Term Party Mean rank Metrics
1 Harry S. Truman I D 2.67 3
2 Franklin D. Roosevelt (term 3) D 5.33 3
3 Joseph R. Biden I D 6.12 8
4 Jimmy Carter I D 6.12 8
5 Bill Clinton II D 6.88 8
6 Lyndon B. Johnson II D 7.29 7
7 Bill Clinton I D 8.12 8
8 Barack Obama II D 8.88 8
9 George W. Bush II R 9.38 8
10 Donald J. Trump I R 9.62 8
11 Ronald Reagan II R 9.75 8
12 Richard M. Nixon I R 10.14 7
13 John F. Kennedy I D 10.40 5
14 Gerald R. Ford I R 10.62 8
15 George W. Bush I R 11.50 8

Everyone

Metrics that cut across both cohorts: headline + core inflation, unemployment, kitchen-table grocery prices.

Rank President / Term Party Mean rank Metrics
1 Herbert Hoover I R 1.00 1
2 Franklin D. Roosevelt II D 2.00 1
3 Dwight D. Eisenhower I R 3.33 3
4 Calvin Coolidge I R 4.00 1
5 Bill Clinton II D 4.50 12
6 George W. Bush I R 5.75 12
7 John F. Kennedy I D 6.20 5
8 Bill Clinton I D 6.50 12
9 Donald J. Trump I R 7.08 12
10 Ronald Reagan II R 7.20 10
11 Barack Obama II D 7.50 12
12 Barack Obama I D 7.75 12
13 George W. Bush II R 8.25 12
14 George H.W. Bush I R 8.75 12
15 Dwight D. Eisenhower II R 10.00 5

Where Donald J. Trump ranks today

Donald J. Trump is 655 days into his term. This ranking caps every historical president at that same day, so the comparison is apples-to-apples on tenure.

Current rank in the fair view: #11 of 13 (mean rank 10.46 across 22 metrics).

That number moves daily as fresh data lands (BLS releases, FRED series updates, SPX close). The table above is regenerated nightly; the ranking position is the honest head-to-head on the exact day count both terms have reached.

Methodology + the 24 metrics

How “same days” works. For each metric, every president’s value is computed over the first 655 days of their term only — the day count Donald J. Trump has reached today. Presidents whose terms lasted fewer than 655 days are excluded from the ranking.

Why this is the fairest head-to-head. Comparing Trump II (day 655) to Clinton II (day 1,461) on a cumulative metric like total jobs added or SPX total return is mechanical nonsense — the longer-tenured term always wins. This ranking removes that bias by truncating every comparison to the shortest tenure in the ranking (always the current president’s).

Why the “fair” view is the headline. Older terms (FDR, Hoover, Coolidge) have only 1–5 metrics available vs 15–22 for post-Carter terms. A 2-metric mean is noise. The fair cut requires at least 15 metrics so every term is judged on a comparable set.

Data sources. All series pulled from presidential_performance.db (59 MB, local SQLite). Upstream: FRED for macro + markets + inflation; BLS for employment + wages; BEA for GDP-adjacent. Refreshed nightly.

The 24 metrics (cohort · dimension · metric · unit · better · n eligible terms):

Cohort Dim Metric Unit Better n terms
Asset Holder markets S&P 500 (term-to-date annualized return) %/yr ↑ 25
Asset Holder markets 10-Year Treasury Yield (avg) % ↔ 17
Asset Holder markets High-Yield Spread (avg, bps) bps ↓ 8
Asset Holder housing Case-Shiller HPI (cum %) % ↔ 10
Ladder Climber housing 30-Yr Mortgage Rate (avg) % ↓ 14
Ladder Climber purchasing power Avg Hourly Earnings, nominal (cum %) % ↑ 16
Ladder Climber purchasing power Real Avg Hourly Earnings (cum %) % ↑ 16
Ladder Climber jobs Total Nonfarm Payrolls (cum %) % ↑ 22
Ladder Climber jobs LFP Prime Age (avg) % ↑ 20
Ladder Climber jobs Construction Employment (cum %) % ↑ 22
Ladder Climber jobs Leisure & Hospitality Employment (cum %) % ↑ 22
Ladder Climber fiscal Personal Saving Rate (avg) % ↑ 17
Shared inflation Headline CPI (cum %) % ↓ 21
Shared inflation Core CPI (cum %) % ↓ 18
Shared inflation Food CPI (cum %) % ↓ 26
Shared inflation Energy CPI (cum %) % ↓ 18
Shared inflation Trimmed Mean PCE 12m YoY (avg) % ↓ 13
Shared jobs Unemployment Rate (avg) % ↓ 20
Shared kitchen table Eggs ($/doz avg) $/doz ↓ 12
Shared kitchen table Ground Beef ($/lb avg) $/lb ↓ 11
Shared kitchen table Bacon ($/lb avg) $/lb ↓ 12
Shared kitchen table Whole Chicken ($/lb avg) $/lb ↓ 12
Shared kitchen table Sirloin Steak ($/lb avg) $/lb ↓ 10
Shared kitchen table Gasoline ($/gal avg) $/gal ↓ 10

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