The Daily Populous Friday February 20th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by OddTax8841

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice

Melania Trump has been named the second least popular first lady in recent history, but it was Trump rival Hillary Clinton who took home the honors of being the most disliked, a new poll has found.

According to YouGov, 2,255 U.S. citizens were asked earlier this month to rank the 11 most recent first ladies on a scale of “Outstanding” to “Poor.”

Thirty-six percent said Melania was “poor,” and another 10 percent rated her “below average.” Roughly 18 percent of people in the survey ranked Melania as “outstanding” with another 12 percent saying she was “above average.” That left her with a net approval rating of -16.

The only first lady to rank lower than Melania was Hillary Clinton, who notably lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump. The poll saw 33 percent of people rate her as “poor,” and an additional 11 percent said she was “below average,” making her net rating -17.

Meanwhile, the most popular first ladies were Jackie Kennedy, Rosalynn Carter and Nancy Reagan, who had +56, +32 and +25 net ratings, respectively.

open image in gallery Melania Trump has been named the second least popular first lady in recent history, according to a new poll from YouGov ( REUTERS )

open image in gallery But Hillary Clinton took the top spot, slightly edging out Melania for most disliked first lady ( Getty )

Michelle Obama also stood out as a favorite amongst respondents, with 33 percent saying she was “outstanding,” and 12 percent rating her “above average,” giving her a +21 net approval rating. Roughly 22 percent ranked her as “poor.”

On average, the majority of the 11 most recent first ladies received higher net ratings than their husbands.

Hillary Clinton was the only first lady to have a significantly lower net rating than her husband, who had a net rating of -3.

Several presidents and first ladies had similar ratings, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and John F. Kennedy (+56 vs. +61), Nancy and Ronald Reagan (+25 vs. +22), Michelle and Barack Obama (+21 vs. +15).

Melania and Donald Trump also had similar, albeit negative, ratings (-16 vs. -20).

It also found that 48 percent of respondents believe Donald Trump is “poor,” while another 6 percent say he is “below average.” Trump received the lowest rating of any of the 20 presidents YouGov asked respondents about. Approximately 19 percent ranked 45 and 47 as “oustanding.”

open image in gallery Trump ranked the worst out of 20 presidents YouGov asked survey respondents about ( Getty Images )

After Trump, his predecessor, Joe Biden, was the least popular ex-president, with 38 percent of respondents saying he was “poor,” while 12 percent said he was “below average.” Only 7 percent ranked Biden as “outstanding.”

The poll noted that “opinions of first ladies generally is politically polarized in a similar way to opinion of their husbands.”

The poll provides a glimpse into the public opinion of Melania Trump amidst the rollout of her controversial documentary Melania, which reportedly earned $7 million opening weekend — though ticket sales plummeted its second week, earning only $2.4 million.

Amazon spent $40 million to acquire the rights to the documentary, and a further $35 million to promote it.

rically95 on February 19th, 2026 at 22:28 UTC »

Is Elon Musk number 1 or wasn’t he in the job long enough?

Radiant-Month-1168 on February 19th, 2026 at 21:34 UTC »

She is an illegal immigrant.

CAM6913 on February 19th, 2026 at 21:33 UTC »

Melanoma the the one that lied on her visa , citizenship application, chain migrated her family including her convicted felon father? Or is it the one who wore the jacket that said “I don’t care” when doing a photo op in a natural disaster area ? Maybe it’s the bought and paid for porn actress,stable genius? I can’t imagine why this pos isn’t popular! Not!! I’m surprised she’s not the least popular