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Two years ago, Barack Obama was a damaged-goods, lame-duck president who had just endured his second consecutive midterm drubbing thanks in large part to Republican efforts to tie Democrats to him and his eponymous health-care law.

Today, Obamais virtually tied for first place in a new poll of the greatest modern president.

TheQuinnipiac University pollindicates 29 percent say Obama is the greatest president since World War II just shy of the 30 percent who cite Ronald Reagan, the long-standing titleholder.

That's a vast improvement for Obama, who back in July 2014 was viewed as the greatest modern president by just 8 percent.

A big reason Obama has surged is that he has now gobbled up a bigger portion of the greatest-Democratic-president pie. The percentage saying the greatest modern president is Bill Clinton has dropped from 18 percent in 2014 to 9 percent. The number citing John F. Kennedy is down from 15 percent to 12 percent. Harry S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson dropped 2 points and 1 point, respectively.

But Obama also seems to have gobbled up some of the GOP's pie. Reagan dropped from 35 percent in 2014 to 30 percent today, and the GOP's share of the overall greatest-modern-president piece has dropped from 46 percent to 38 percent. Democrats, meanwhile, have risen from 50 percent to 56 percent.

Part of it is almost certainly proximity. Obama is just days removed from office, and perhaps that gives him a bump. He's also perhaps helped by the fact that the last Democratic president before him left office 16 years ago, and that president's wife just suffered a pretty bad defeat. The Clinton brand just isn't what it once was.

That proximity also hurts Obama when it comes to the worst modern president, which Quinnipiac also polled. For that honor, Obama (23 percent) is virtually tied with Richard Nixon (24 percent) and George W. Bush (22 percent) at No. 1. But even there he's improved; back in 2014, he was clearly the No. 1 worst modern president, with 33 percent saying so.

In other words, the polarized views of Obama certainly come into play here.

But Obama has also done himself plenty of good in recent months. As Americans were choosing between two candidates they didn't particularly like in the 2016 election, he suddenly saw a marked increase in popularity even as not much was truly accomplished in Washington and he exited with his best approval ratings since his first year in office, according to some polls.

The true measure of a president's legacy, it bears noting, isn't really measured six days after he leaves office, and these numbers are bound to shift around in the years to come.

But the early reviews of Obama's presidency are certainly better than we could have foreseen two years ago.

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Obama draws neck-and-neck with Reagan in poll of greatest modern president - Washington Post

Forbes

Barack Obama Is Likely To Get $20M Advance To Write His Memoir Forbes Regardless your political affiliation, there's an undeniable fascination with former President Barack Obama and per Esther Newberg, co-head of ICM Partners' publishing unit, this is one reason he is likely to get more than any president has with at ... Barack Obama's Memoir Could Fetch $20 Million AdvanceHollywood Reporter all 9 news articles »

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Barack Obama Is Likely To Get $20M Advance To Write His Memoir - Forbes

Days Before a Deadline, Trump Team Cancels Ads for Obama Health Plan New York Times WASHINGTON The Trump administration is pulling back advertisements that encourage people to sign up for health insurance under former President Barack Obama's health care law. The ads were to have run in the next few days of the annual open ... and more »

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Days Before a Deadline, Trump Team Cancels Ads for Obama Health Plan - New York Times

Whoopi Goldberg discusses Donald Trump's first week in office on ABC's 'The View,' on Jan. 25, 2017. (Screenshot from ABC recording)

The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg claimed recently that unlike President Donald Trump, former President Barack Obama waited before issuing executive actions.

After a striking comment from co-host Joy Behar, who hypothesized Trump was passing executive actions quickly because he was afraid hed be impeached, another co-host, Jedediah Bila, countered Behars point saying "all presidents do this." Goldberg offered an instant fact-check.

"I think the difference in what you're saying in terms of executive action is at least it took President Obama, at least a couple of months in, and this one (Trump) has came in and he said, We're doing this and this, and this. And I understand that," Goldberg said in a Jan. 25 segment of the View.

Goldberg repeated this idea again in response to Bila, who criticized Obama for taking executive actions at the start of his presidency when he could have passed laws through a Democratic Congress.

"But (Obama) didnt do executive orders in the beginning," Goldberg said.

Executive orders are the most well-known kind of presidential action, and have a long tradition in presidential history back to the days of George Washington. In fact, every president except for William Harrison (who died a month into office) has issued at least one executive order.

This specific presidential action directs the federal government and bureaucracies and carries the power of the law. However, executive orders can be revoked or amended by future presidents.

We wanted to settle the matter: Did Obama, unlike Trump, wait to take executive action? Long story short is that he didnt, and experts said executive actions are common among new presidents.

Obama didnt waste much time before issuing executive orders after his inauguration.

Obama signed his first executive order (13489) about presidential records on Jan. 21, 2009, a day after the inauguration. This executive order required the Archivist of the United States notify both the incumbent president and the former president of any records the archivist feels may trigger executive privilege. (Executive privilege refers to the presidents power to withhold information from the public.)

Over the next 10 days, Obama had signed nine executive orders. By the end of his first month, the number was 16.

Heres how Obama compared to Trump: As of Jan. 26, Trump had signed four executive orders aimed at achieving various campaign promises. By this time, Obama had issued five executive orders.

Obama first aimed to limit access to presidential records, while another ordered the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba within one year.

That action received backlash from Republicans. As did Obamas corresponding order to look for lawful alternatives to the detention of captives in the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Month

Executive orders signed by Obama

January 2009 (starting on Jan. 21)

9

February 2009

7

March 2009

2

April 2009

1

Source: https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/2009-obama.html

Executive action has a broad definition, but just in terms of one type of executive orders, Goldbergs claim is incorrect.

That said, its hard to say whether Trumps first actions as president are more significant for policy than Obamas.

Executive orders arent the only action presidents can take, making it difficult to compare Obamas use of unilateral actions to Trumps so far.

Through "executive actions," presidents can also pardon criminals, amend the internal structure of the executive branch, issue signing statements, write letters and memoranda, and more.

"The number of orders is often misleading, and the terminology can be confusing both presidents issued important orders that were not Executive Orders with numbers attached," said John T. Woolley, an American politics professor at University of California, Santa Barbara.

William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that both Trump and Obama took controversial actions at the start.

"The early Trump executive actions have been on hot button issues, so they aroused a lot of early controversy, but we cant forget how controversial presidential actions of the past have been," he said.

Galston was specifically referring to the U.S. Treasurys decision to bail out the auto industry during Obamas first year. When Obama took office, he created a task force with a mandate to determine the fate of GM and Chrysler.

He added that is not unlikely for presidents to take executive actions at first, especially when theres a change in party, adding that presidents want to reverse actions of the previous administration.

For example, Trump issued a presidential memorandum on Jan. 23 that banned all foreign nongovernmental organizations from receiving U.S. funds from performing or promoting abortion, reversing an Obama action.

The recession gripping the country when Obama took office also spurred the former president to move with more urgent executive action, Galston said.

Our ruling

Goldberg said Obama waited "at least a couple of months" to issue executive actions. Thats not correct; Obama issued an executive order on his first day in office, and 16 with in his first month.

Although its hard to compare one presidents actions to the other, experts said Trump and Obama both issued important orders in the beginning of their presidency, which is common practice.

We rate this statement Pants on Fire.

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Whoopi Goldberg wrongly says Obama waited 'at least a couple of months' to issue executive actions - PolitiFact

New York Times

What Trump Can and Can't Do to Dismantle Obama's Climate Rules New York Times WASHINGTON President Trump campaigned on sweeping promises to eliminate former President Barack Obama's major environmental regulations and get rid of the Environmental Protection Agency. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump offered a down payment on ... The EPA just delayed 30 environmental regulations created under Obama - here's what that meansBusiness Insider Scientist Plan March Against Trump After Ignoring Obama's Science Problems For 8 YearsDaily Caller all 890 news articles »

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What Trump Can and Can't Do to Dismantle Obama's Climate Rules - New York Times