Last month we created a poll with the question of which past president you would have picked as your nominee for this election. We got the idea from an open question that Dr. Herndon asked one of her classes to name the person living today or from that past that they would most like to see elected as president this fall. For this poll, we limited the choices to the twenty top-rated presidents according to presidential scholars surveyed by the Washington Post. In total we received 199 votes.

And, without further ado, here are the top five past presidents that our students and community would like to see elected in 2016…

7. Dwight Eisenhower

Ranked 7th in both our poll and the scholars poll, we kinda like Ike (1953-61), but not that much.

4-6. Abraham Lincoln, George H. W. Bush, and George Washington

This varied group of presidents shared the same number of votes: seventeen. Lincoln (1861-65) and Washington (1789-97) are the highest ranked presidents in the Washington Post’s scholars poll; Bush the forty-first (1989-93) ranked seventeenth.

3. Teddy Roosevelt

Teddy (1901-1908) is a favorite not only in our community with twenty votes, but was also ranked in the fourth place in the scholars pool.

2. John Adams

With twenty-one votes, John Adams (1797-1801) was the second-most popular. He ranked #16 among presidential scholars. Please comment if you have any idea why he’s so popular in BGSU…

See the gallery of photos of Reagan’s visit to BGSU in 1984.

1. Ronald Reagan

Reagan (1981-89) received most votes in our poll (26). Presidential scholars ranked him eleventh. Perhaps his visit to BGSU in 1984 still lingers in our falcon imaginary?

The survey was just meant as a funny exercise. Still, it may have some value in an election both characterized by the negative image of the major candidates and by the apathy of young millennials. Most of the votes came after an email sent to majors and minors. The majority of the votes for Reagan and Teddy Roosevelt came in this last wave of votes. In an election in which millennials do not see themselves represented in the major candidates, these colorful leaders may remind them of political leaders who expanded the bases of American politics.

Prepared by Dr. Amílcar Challú, Nicole Farley (History senior) and Zack Burton (History M.A. student)