President Joe Biden has set a new president record of the most vacation days taken by a sitting President. After a tumultuous debate performance and a string of concerning public appearances, President Joe Biden abruptly withdrew from the 2024 presidential race in late July. However, he still managed to secure his place in the record books—though not for reasons he might have hoped.
According to data compiled by the Republican National Committee (RNC), Biden spent 577 of his 1,463 days in office on vacation, amounting to 39% of his presidency—the highest percentage recorded for any modern president.
The RNC had been tracking Biden’s frequent time off well before his departure from the race. As reported by the New York Post, an average American worker would need to log 52 years on the job—without taking a single vacation day—to accumulate the same number of days off Biden took in just four years.
“That’s a day off for every 2.5 days on,” noted commentator Noam Blum.
Biden’s New President Record: 577 Vacation Days, the Most in Modern History!
Biden spent today — his 16th straight day on vacation — lounging on the beach.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 31, 2024
He has spent a total of 532 days (40.3% of his presidency) on vacation.
Who's running the country? pic.twitter.com/YIStPQR3Vl
David Limbaugh further critiqued the numbers, stating, “These are just the days labeled as vacation, but I doubt even 10% of his time in office counted as actual working days.”
Biden’s vacation tally far exceeded the 381 days taken by President Donald Trump in his first term, which accounted for roughly 26% of his time in office. He also surpassed the previous record-holder, the late George H.W. Bush, who spent 543 of his 1,461 days—about 37%—on vacation.
Other modern presidents took considerably fewer vacation days. George W. Bush took 1,020 over his eight years (35% of his presidency), Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama each took around 11%, while Jimmy Carter recorded the least, with just 5%.
After being removed from the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, Biden added to his record by taking an uninterrupted 23-day vacation starting on August 8th.
His time in office also made history in another way. On December 12, 2024, Biden granted 39 pardons and nearly 1,500 sentence commutations—the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.
