Post-presidency of Gerald Ford R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the north campus of his alma mater, the University of Michigan, followed in September by the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids. In October 1977, Ford traveled to New Jersey to campaign for gubernatorial candidate Raymond Bateman to replace Brendan Byrne as Governor of New Jersey. Ford used his appearances to criticize the policies of both Bryne and President Carter. In August 1980, Ford traveled to Tokyo to participate in a seminar for the twentieth anniversary of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan and
Presidency of Gerald Ford polls had shown as a 33-point Carter lead to a 2-point margin. Polls of historians and political scientists have generally ranked Ford as a below-average to average president. A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association's Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked Ford as the 25th best president. A 2017 C-Span poll of historians also ranked Ford as the 25th best president. Historian John Robert Greene writes that "Ford had difficulty navigating a demanding political environment." He also notes, however, that "Americans, by and large, believed that Gerald Ford was an innately decent and good man and that he