Of the 11 presidents since World War II, President Bush is the "worst," said 34% of those surveyed in a Quinnipiac University poll released today. That was double the percentage of the next "worst" president, Richard Nixon (17%).

The "best" president, chosen by 28% of those surveyed, was Ronald Reagan. President Clinton came in second in that category, at 25%. (Clinton was named "worst" president by 16%.)

Quinnipiac researchers say the nationwide telephone survey of 1,534 registered voters was conducted May 23-30 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points.

Update at 2:55 p.m. ET:

USA TODAY Polling Editor Jim Norman has passed on some information that might help put this poll in perspective. The data show that as time goes on, presidents who once got poor grades appear to get judged somewhat less harshly - or that subsequent presidents' performances in office spur Americans to reevaluate their feelings.

Gallup polls taken since the mid-1980s, for instance, show that President Carter's ranking has "improved" over the years. In April 1986, he was rated "worst" by 29% of those polled - second to Nixon, at 34%. In the new Quinnipiac poll, Carter was judged "worst" by 13%.

Nixon, meanwhile, has gone from a "worst" score of 34% in 1986 to his current 17%.

Clinton's score on the "worst" question, by the way, has stayed in a relatively narrow range since 1998 - between 16% and 20