President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are both facing underwater approval ratings, but what about their wives?
Former first lady Melania Trump dominated headlines at the end of the Trump presidency when she left the White House with the worst popularity rating for any first lady at the end of her term.
The numbers were a rarity. First ladies historically benefit from a higher favorability than their husbands. Those who have held the position, which is unelected, less visible and normally uncontroversial, are typically well-liked by the American people.
But polls suggest that trend may be in the past. As the nation has grown increasingly polarized, so too, have their opinions about the first lady.
A YouGov poll conducted in November 2023 found that 31 percent say first lady Jill Biden is "poor" or "below average," compared to 25 percent who said she is "outstanding" and 28 percent who describe her as "average."
The recent figures suggest that she's become less popular over time. After the first six months of the Biden presidency, a CNN poll found that 29 percent had an unfavorable opinion of Jill Biden and that 46 percent had a favorable opinion of her. And although her disapproval remained unchanged a year and a half into her term, the number of Americans who said they liked the first lady fell by more than double digits to 34 percent.
While Melania Trump entered the White House with a fairly low approval rating, 36 percent pre-inauguration, she quickly won over the American public. Just a month into her husband's presidency, Melania's favorability rating shot up 16 points to 52 percent, CNN polling shows.
That number only continued to climb from there. About a year and a half into her term, shortly after Melania Trump attended late first lady Barbara Bush's funeral without her husband, she saw her highest favorability rating at 57 percent.
But her ratings began dropping off after that, falling to 43 percent by December 2018 and 42 percent by the time she departed the White House. Although it was the lowest net favorability seen for a first lady since Hillary Clinton, Melania Trump was still more popular than her husband, whose approval was 33 percent, and very popular among Republicans, 84 percent.
In comparison to their most recent predecessors, Jill Biden and Melania Trump's numbers are far less positive.
Only 13 percent of Americans disapproved of Laura Bush, Barbara Bush and Pat Nixon, according to the YouGov poll. And 14 percent disapproved of Nancy Reagan while 9 percent disapproved of Rosalynn Carter and 11 percent disapproved of Lady Bird Johnson.
Even though Michelle Obama saw a higher disapproval rating of 28 percent, she was wildly more popular, with 45 percent describing her as "outstanding or above average." The only first lady to score higher was Carter with 46 percent.
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Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
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