Percent Growth in National Debt by President

This Presidents' Day, we are taking a look back at the growth in the national debt under each president from Nixon to Trump. These numbers are based on the reported national debt. The true national debt is more than $132 trillion*.

*Please note our national debt calculations have been updated since this video was published.

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[tbc]

Bill Clinton was by far the most economically responsible and successful president we had domestically. His record might not be perfect (NAFTA [but regardless the president, it would’ve been signed] and the crime bill which wasn’t good), but he did a damn good job as president.

[cacciato]

The use of percentages in a cumulative function is disingenuous to say the least. Whoever put this graphic together was in my opinion dishonest. Percentages work well on fixed base functions but NOT on increasing functions. Look at the total billion/trillion figures for a better comparison, however even that is misleading. The cumulative graph is the clearest and most honest presentation by far.

[artross]

One trillion just on our debt. Crazy payment and they laugh about it. Guess they go over on their checkbooks 😂😂😂😂

[marquis]

This is not very useful: 1) Not adjusted for inflation--Nixon's $500 billion is $3.8 trillion today, 2) the bars represent % of growth rate--that's why Obama's $20 trillion looks twice as large as Trump's $26 trillion and both are dwarfed by Reagan's $2.9 trillion--that's all pretty misleading, 3) A pie chart of the contribution each presidential period to today's debt would be great--if possible. In case you missed it, according to these numbers anyway, the Republicans added nearly $50 trillion to debt and the Dems added about half that at $27 trillion. Probably something about military buildup, actual wars and cutting taxes. It wasn't overspending on healthcare and education, that's for sure.

[artsmith]

Trump added 7.8 trillion to the debt in 4 years while Obama added 9 trillion in 8 years so Donny was increasing debt at roughly twice the rate as Obama.

[kendrakrause]

I wish the bars on your figure were accurate. You've got Ronald higher than George.

[SJmystic]

I appreciate the other commenters speaking to the issue of the choices made in this graphic and its misleading nature. So, "Truth in Accounting, " as people who appreciate the implications of how you chose to feature the numerical data of debt change with each president, why did you make the choices you did? 
It would be great, and a better service to the public, it you'd put together additional representations (see ideas in other comments) that show a range of ways to look at this data.

[hrantash]

Between GWB and DT ttl. $38.8 Trillion. Between Obama and Biden aprox. $35.7Trillion. 35.7 + 38.8= 74.5 74.5 - 31.4= $43.1Paid mostly by Democrat Presidents

[TheOfficialAgile]

We’re already at 31 trillion and it hasn’t even been 2 years for Joe