The American Political Science Association has released its annual ranking of presidential greatness (and non-greatness), and unsurprisingly, Florida Man came in dead last. This is actually a drop from the previous survey, when he was, astoundingly, only next-to-last. What was a surprise, at least for some people, is that President Biden made a rather strong showing at 14th. This is how Fox summed it up.

Yes, one might indeed say that 45th is somewhat “below” 14th. Fox also, of course, emphasizes that this survey was produced by “self-styled” experts; it’s become de rigueur among right-wingers to make the case that experts can’t be trusted, since experts so often contradict right-wing ideology. And hey, who needs an expert when you can just watch a 5-minute Youtube video?

Notwithstanding the Fox-style spin, there are four important takeaways about this survey.

1. This is not a partisan evaluation.

The 154 presidential experts (and indeed that’s what they were) who responded to the survey represented the spectrum of political ideology. It’s not known how many there were of each, but the APSA does say that overall, party affiliation did not impact the results (there were just a couple of cases where there was a significant difference — one of them being Biden, whom Republicans ranked 30th and independents pegged 20th). All respondents, regardless of ideology, placed Florida Man at or near the bottom. And while liberals and independents both ranked Clinton 12th, conservatives actually rated him 10th. It’s probably true that there are more Democrats/ liberals than Republicans/ conservatives among those most knowledgeable about political science, history and the presidency. But that in itself should tell us something.

2. Biden made a strong showing after only 3 years in office.

Many of the U.S. presidents have had two full terms to build their legacy. Biden has had only 3 years, and yet he placed in the top third of the field. If he continues to perform as he has, it’s likely that his stock in the presidential greatness marketplace will rise further in the future.

3. Biden continues to confound the punditocracy.

The president’s strong showing also runs counter to the persistent story that he is failing, flailing, floundering and foundering. As the result of which, his approval rating has pretty consistently been just about the lowest in galactic history. Not a day goes by that the media don’t try to make an issue of his age and his alleged senility. (One Yahoo headline proclaimed that “nearly 70 percent” of respondents to a Quinnipiac Poll said that the president was too old to serve another term — the actual number was 67 percent. You had to read a little further to learn something else that just as easily could have been the headline: those same voters still preferred him to that other guy.) Throughout it all, the president has continued to be productive and effective. He has consistently outperformed expectations and narratives by a substantial margin, both on the job and at the ballot box. And that shouldn’t be so hard to see once you filter out enough bullshit.

4. Proper assessment of a president often takes time.

Many people can’t fully evaluate a president’s effectiveness (or its opposite) until they’ve had the perspective of lapsed years — at least for most presidents. Thus, the ranking of Obama has risen, while that of Reagan has, finally, taken a slide. Realizing this makes it all the more impressive that Biden has scored so high.

The stark difference in the rankings of the two leading candidates for the presidency should be big news, and it should cause voters to seriously reevaluate the narratives they’re being fed constantly. But will it?

My bet is that it won’t move the needle one iota. Nor will the revelation that the GOPers pushing for a Biden impeachment have been acting as performers in the Putin Puppetry Troupe. If I’m mistaken in either case, I’ll gleefully admit it.