New polls have revealed that Melania Trump is the least popular First Lady ever, with her popularity ratings described as “historically awful.”
Analysis by CNN shows that FLOTUS currently has an approval rating of -12, having dropped from a rating of plus three just over a year ago in January 2025.
Results of the poll came out before Melania delivered a remarkable White House address to the nation on Thursday, in which she denied any connections to disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The polling numbers are not related to her statement or Epstein.
“I would say that the American people really don’t care for Melania Trump,” CNN Senior data analyst Harry Enten said, speaking on CNN News Central before her surprising statement was made.
“This is the worst at this point in a presidency as well. Melania Trump breaking records in the way that you don’t want to break records. Historically awful… The American people really don’t care for her.”
Enten went on to compare Melania to other First Ladies, including Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush, who had all achieved net positive scores in polling. The highest scoring FLOTUS was Nancy Reagan with a positive approval rating of 50 percent, he said.
Melania has long been subject to scrutiny in the public eye and is often known to shun the limelight in favour of her husband, the president.
In 2018, during Trump’s first term, Melania made headlines after wearing a controversial jacket while visiting child detention centers in McAllen, Texas, and again upon her return to Washington, D.C.
The $39 jacket from retailer Zara featured the text “I Really Don’t Care. Do U?” and sparked multiple think pieces as to why the First Lady would wear it.
Back on CNN Thursday, Enten addressed Melania’s controversial documentary, titled Melania: Twenty Days To History, that was released on Amazon in January, and was almost universally panned by critics – suggesting it had had a direct effect on her popularity.
“I think a lot of people saw it as political even if she didn’t want it to be and you could just see it here,” Enten said. This is real-world data. This is not just the polling data that shows the historic lack of appeal that she has for a first lady.”
Describing the film as having “bombed” and pointing to the fact that “simply put, the money was not made back.”
“That coalesces, that combines with the polling data to say that Melania Trump is historically unpopular for a first lady,” Enten said.
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