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By Kate Plummer
Senior US News Reporter
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Melania Trump, President Donald Trump's wife, is the second least popular of 11 recent first ladies, according to a poll.
YouGov asked respondents to rank 11 first ladies on a scale from "outstanding" to "poor."
It found that Melania Trump had a -16 net rating. This was the second lowest rating of any other first lady after Hillary Clinton, the wife of Bill Clinton who herself ran for president for the Democratic Party in 2016, whose net rating was slightly lower at -17 points.
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Newsweek reached out to representatives for Melania Trump and Clinton outside of normal business hours for comment.
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Why It Matters
While Melania Trump is not herself in power and her role is largely ceremonial, her ranking reflects how closely modern first ladies are judged through the lens of their husbands’ presidencies.
Her low popularity could cause broader concerns for the White House as it seeks to project a strong image to the public. This is particularly true as Melania Trump's public profile has recently increased following the release of Melania, a 104-minute film that follows the 20 days in the life of the first lady leading up to the president's second inauguration.
What To Know
The poll of 2,255 adults was conducted between February 2 and 5 with a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points.
Aside from the 36 percent of people who said Melania Trump was "poor," a further 10 percent rated her as "below average," leaving her with a net approval rating of -16 points.
The lowest rated first lady was Hillary Clinton. 33 percent of people rated her as "poor" and a further 11 percent said she was "below average." This means her net approval rating was -17 points.
The most popular recent first ladies were Jackie Kennedy, Rosalynn Cater and Nancy Reagan. They had net ratings of +56, +32 and +25, respectively.
Melania Trump's ranking has slightly improved. When YouGov previously conducted this polling in 2023, 39 percent of people rated Melania Trump as "poor" or "below average," while 37 percent held the same view of Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, the poll found that half of Americans rate Donald Trump as a "poor" president, making Melania Trump more popular than her husband.
It found that 48 percent believe Trump is "poor," while a further 6 percent see him as "below average." This is the lowest rating of any of the 20 presidents YouGov tracked.
After Trump, his predecessor Joe Biden was the least popular former president. Some 38 percent of people said he was "poor" and 12 percent said he was "below average."
Republican Richard Nixon was the third least popular former president—27 percent said he was "poor" and 21 percent "below average."
On the other side, YouGov found that the most popular presidents were Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and George Washington, with 74 percent, 66 percent and 65 percent, respectively, rating them as "outstanding" or "above average."
And other polls showed Melania and Donald Trump with similar approval ratings. They each registered 41 percent favorable ratings in separate Economist/YouGov polls released in January and February 2026.
What People Are Saying
YouGov wrote in a blog about the poll: "Opinion of first ladies generally is politically polarized in a similar way to opinion of their husbands."
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