Government effectiveness during each president's tenure

Every president since 1991, ranked by how the government effectiveness changed from their first day in office. Politare shows what happened during a tenure; it does not claim the office-holder caused it.

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Results

Order

#	President	In office	Total	Per year
1	Barack Obama	20 Jan 2009 – 20 Jan 2017	+0.6 points 2008 → 2016	+0.1 points/yr
2	Joe Biden	20 Jan 2021 – 20 Jan 2025	−0.8 points 2020 → 2024	−0.2 points/yr
3	Donald Trump	20 Jan 2017 – 20 Jan 2021	−4.2 points 2016 → 2020	−1.1 points/yr
4	George W. Bush	20 Jan 2001 – 20 Jan 2009	−8.0 points 2000 → 2008	−1.0 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, higher is better · World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators (GOV_WGI_GE.SC): perceptions of the quality of public services, the civil service and of policy-making, a score from 0 to 100 with its 90 % interval · United States data · as of Sep 2026.