Melania Trump’s Popularity Plummets By Double-Digits


In October, Melania Trump’s popularity stood at 54 percent. Now a new CNN Politics poll shows that in the space of just two months, her favorability rating has dropped by 11 percent — to just 43 percent.

On top of that, 36 percent of people polled found the first lady to be unfavorable, a six point increase from two months ago. The sudden drop in her favorability is surprising for Melania, who has enjoyed a rating between the high 40’s and high 50’s all throughout the year. Even still, Melania’s numbers have been varied since her husband took office in January of 2017.

By contrast, U.S. President Donald Trump’s ratings have maintained a steady 40 percent favorable rating recently.

Melania’s highest favorability rating peaked in May this year, with 57 percent — shortly after she hosted her first state dinner in April, and attended the state funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush. On that occasion, she posed for a photograph with former presidents and first ladies.

Even in June, after Melania announced her “Be Best” campaign — and despite being out of the public eye after suffering from a kidney concern that resulted in her hospitalization — her favorable ratings remained at 51 percent.

Even with her low current numbers, Melania’s current favorability rating is still much higher than her lowest ever rating. That low point occurred in January of 2017, just days before her husband’s inauguration. Back then, her favorability rating stood at 36 percent, her unfavorable rating at 35 percent, and 23 percent of people polled said that they had no opinion of her whatsoever.

The poll also offered up the demographics of those who find her both favorable and unfavorable. Melania’s support comes from older white male Republicans and conservatives — while younger, college-educated women are found to be her biggest detractors. It is among her detractors that she has now enjoyed the biggest drop in her popularity, but even among those who have previously supported her, there has been a faltering in her popularity.

Her popularity has dropped six percent among people who feel her husband is doing a good job of running the country, but 11 among those who do not. She has lost five points among Republicans and independents who lean towards the conservative party, but 13 points among Democrats and liberal-leaning independents.

The first lady’s biggest decrease has come from liberals and white college graduates, where she is down 17 points each.

Her recent drop in popularity is perhaps due to the fact that Melania has been in the public eye a lot more since October, and drew particular criticism for speaking out to say that women who accuse men of sexual assault should only come forward if they have “hard evidence,” per CNN.

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