The Problem 

Many Americans feel the federal government does not work for them. They see process getting in the way of outcomes; federal agencies or gridlocked institutions diffusing responsibility; polarization turning routine government into partisan conflict; ambitious mandates going beyond government’s capacity to execute; and aging institutions unable to address today’s challenges. Presidents from both parties promise to “fix” government but then experience visible breakdowns in crisis response and core policy delivery, from financial shocks, public health emergencies, and the management of cross-border flows of people, goods, and illicit activity. Underperformance and failure corrode trust not only in the executive branch but across core institutions, including the courts, Congress, and the military. This reinforces a cycle in which skepticism weakens performance, further deepening skepticism. 

Explore and Engage  

In the coming two years, our research and public events programming will examine cases of presidential success and failure. Presidential performance has long been an area of Miller Center focus. Our faculty senior fellow Rachel Augustine Potter is a national leader in this area, as is nonresident faculty senior fellow Andrew Rudalevige. We will draw on our oral history and recordings teams’ understanding of domestic and foreign policy successes and failures, taking advantage of our experts’ varied experience (national security, health care, etc.). In planning events and research, we will call on our practitioner fellows and connect them with opinion experts. We will explore partnerships with experts at universities and think tanks who study performance initiatives such as “Reinventing Government” and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Where Can We Make a Difference?  

We will aim to help current and future public servants better understand presidential performance, real and perceived. Our biennial Government Leaders Forum (coproduced with McKinsey) will focus on key performance measures and how they match (or don’t match) with public approval. We will return to presidential transitions, where we have experience and depth, with an eye on the 2028 election and next transition. We will explore the opportunities and challenges that technology poses for more effective government. 

Our longer-term impact will be to help current and future public servants learn through case studies of presidential success and failure. These would build on the case studies featured in our First Year Project (2017), our PBS documentary on the Bush 41 national security team, and our 2025 presidency conference panels on PEPFAR and the bin Laden raid. We will pursue a new dedicated case study series to address a variety of successes and failures and highlight the lessons that can be drawn from them, with an eye toward course materials that could be used in high schools, colleges, and graduate programs.