Liberal democracy index during each president's tenure
Every president since 1991, ranked by how the liberal democracy index changed from their first day in office. Politare shows what happened during a tenure; it does not claim the office-holder caused it.
| # | President | In office | Total | Per year | Chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  George W. Bush | 20 Jan 2001 – 20 Jan 2009 | +3.7 points 2000 → 2008 | +0.5 points/yr | |
| 2 |  Joe Biden | 20 Jan 2021 – 20 Jan 2025 | +1.7 points 2020 → 2024 | +0.4 points/yr | |
| 3 | Bill Clinton | 20 Jan 1993 – 20 Jan 2001 | −0.1 points 1992 → 2000 | 0.0 points/yr | |
| 4 | Barack Obama | 20 Jan 2009 – 20 Jan 2017 | −1.5 points 2008 → 2016 | −0.2 points/yr | |
| 5 | Donald Trump | 20 Jan 2017 – 20 Jan 2021 | −9.6 points 2016 → 2020 | −2.4 points/yr |
Sorted by total, highest first. Every row is indexed to the last count complete before the first day in office ("from" marks a start that had to move because that count had no data, or because the period cut it); Levels are per cent changes, rates are differences in points; "per year" compounds levels and divides rates. Tenures with under 12 months, or under three observations, are left out. points, 0 to 100, V-Dem's 0 to 1 index times 100 · V-Dem Institute, V-Dem dataset v16 (v2x_libdem): the liberal democracy index, electoral democracy plus the checks on the executive and the rights of the person, as V-Dem's country experts rate them, with V-Dem's confidence interval; the 0 to 1 index times 100 · United States data · as of Sep 2026.