Skip to main content

Main navigation

  • The Presidency
    • U.S. Presidents
      • George Washington
      • John Adams
      • Thomas Jefferson
      • James Madison
      • James Monroe
      • John Quincy Adams
      • Andrew Jackson
      • Martin Van Buren
      • William Harrison
      • John Tyler
      • James K. Polk
      • Zachary Taylor
      • Millard Fillmore
      • Franklin Pierce
      • James Buchanan
      • Abraham Lincoln
      • Andrew Johnson
      • Ulysses S. Grant
      • Rutherford B. Hayes
      • James A. Garfield
      • Chester A. Arthur
      • Grover Cleveland
      • Benjamin Harrison
      • William McKinley
      • Theodore Roosevelt
      • William Taft
      • Woodrow Wilson
      • Warren G. Harding
      • Calvin Coolidge
      • Herbert Hoover
      • Franklin D. Roosevelt
      • Harry S. Truman
      • Dwight D. Eisenhower
      • John F. Kennedy
      • Lyndon B. Johnson
      • Richard Nixon
      • Gerald Ford
      • Jimmy Carter
      • Ronald Reagan
      • George H. W. Bush
      • Bill Clinton
      • George W. Bush
      • Barack Obama
      • Donald Trump
      • Joe Biden
    • Presidential Speeches
    • Presidential Oral Histories
    • Secret White House Tapes
    • Listening to the Presidency
  • Issues & Policy
    • U.S. Domestic Policy
    • Foreign Policy
    • Economics
    • Governance
  • Experts
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • Donate
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

Footer

  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Miller Center Governing Council
  • Miller Center Foundation
  • Privacy Policy
  • Notice of Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity
  • Download millercenter.org Data

Help inform the discussion

Support the Miller Center
  • Facebook
  • X (Twitter)
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
University of Virginia
Miller Center
University of Virginia
Miller Center

Main navigation

  • The Presidency
    • U.S. Presidents
      • George Washington
      • John Adams
      • Thomas Jefferson
      • James Madison
      • James Monroe
      • John Quincy Adams
      • Andrew Jackson
      • Martin Van Buren
      • William Harrison
      • John Tyler
      • James K. Polk
      • Zachary Taylor
      • Millard Fillmore
      • Franklin Pierce
      • James Buchanan
      • Abraham Lincoln
      • Andrew Johnson
      • Ulysses S. Grant
      • Rutherford B. Hayes
      • James A. Garfield
      • Chester A. Arthur
      • Grover Cleveland
      • Benjamin Harrison
      • William McKinley
      • Theodore Roosevelt
      • William Taft
      • Woodrow Wilson
      • Warren G. Harding
      • Calvin Coolidge
      • Herbert Hoover
      • Franklin D. Roosevelt
      • Harry S. Truman
      • Dwight D. Eisenhower
      • John F. Kennedy
      • Lyndon B. Johnson
      • Richard Nixon
      • Gerald Ford
      • Jimmy Carter
      • Ronald Reagan
      • George H. W. Bush
      • Bill Clinton
      • George W. Bush
      • Barack Obama
      • Donald Trump
      • Joe Biden
    • Presidential Speeches
    • Presidential Oral Histories
    • Secret White House Tapes
    • Listening to the Presidency
  • Issues & Policy
    • U.S. Domestic Policy
    • Foreign Policy
    • Economics
    • Governance
  • Experts
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • Donate
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

Presidential Performance

Presidency Project

  • Home
  • About
  • Sponsors
  • Action areas
  • Experts

Presidential Performance

Presidential Performance

Many Americans feel the federal government does not work for them

About presidential performance

Research

presidential performance on yellow background
About 'Presidential Performance'

Presidents often promise to 'fix' the federal government

elephant and donkey on collapsing bridge
Partisanship, polarization, and the administrative state

Sidney Milkis and Rachel Augustine Potter write that the presidency itself has become a polarizing institution

omb website
'The instruments with which to work': OMB in its second century

Issues raised throughout the history of the Office of Management are back with new urgency, warns Andrew Rudalevige

Image of pieces of paper with DOGE and other government efficiency terms
Trump 2.0 and the administrative state

Rachel Augustine Potter examines the tension between bureaucratic responsiveness and neutral competence

Featured Video

Presidential leadership: Two case studies

Officials discuss two presidential successes: the George W. Bush administration's President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Obama administration's successful raid against Obama bin Laden

Video highlights

image of 2025 Miller Center Presidency Conference discussion
A strong executive and agency independence

Miller Center experts discuss how and why presidents increasingly claim a political mandate to aggressively manage the executive branch—and the implications for responsible and effective governance

image of Monopoly card get out of jail free
The presidential pardon power

Saikrishna Prakash, author of The Presidential Pardon: The Short Clause with a Long, Troubled History, examines the pardon power with Neil Eggleston, Liz Oyer, and moderator Rachel Augustine Potter

University of Virginia
Miller Center

Main navigation

  • The Presidency
  • Issues & Policy
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

Footer

  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Miller Center Governing Council
  • Miller Center Foundation
  • Privacy Policy
  • Notice of Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity
  • Download millercenter.org Data

Help inform the discussion

Support the Miller Center
  • Facebook
  • X (Twitter)
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
Join our email list

© Copyright 2026. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia

University of Virginia

Subscribe to our email list

Get notified about upcoming events and Miller Center news

Subscribe