First Lady Melania Trump faced a stark public verdict in a new YouGov survey examining how Americans rate US presidents and first ladies.
The February 2026 poll, conducted among 2,255 adult citizens, asked respondents to evaluate 11 first ladies “on a scale from outstanding to poor.”
The results placed Melania among the most negatively rated and most politically polarizing women to hold the role.
Highlights
- A February 2026 YouGov poll of 2,255 Americans ranked 11 first ladies from “outstanding” to “poor.”
- Melania Trump received the highest share of negative ratings at 46% and a net rating of -16.
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis led the rankings, while Michelle Obama earned 51% positive marks.
While Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was described as “by far the favorite,” and Michelle Obama stood out with 51% rating her “outstanding” or “above average,” Melania Trump landed near the bottom of the list.
A recent poll placed Melania Trump among the most polarizing first ladies in US history
Image credits: Getty/Chip Somodevilla
According to YouGov, “the first ladies most likely to be rated as poor or below average are Melania Trump (46%) and Hillary Clinton (44%).”
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis led decisively in positive sentiment. Sixty percent of Americans rated her as “outstanding” or “above average,” the highest share of any first lady tested.
Her net rating of +56, obtained by subtracting negative opinions from positive ones, placed her well above the rest of the field.
Image credits: Trump White House Archived
At the same time, Michelle Obama followed with 51% rating her in the top two categories. Her net rating stood at +21.
Rosalynn Carter, meanwhile, posted one of the strongest overall performances with a +32 net rating, showing both solid approval and relatively low negative sentiment.
Nancy Reagan (+25), Lady Bird Johnson (+23), Barbara Bush (+21), and Laura Bush (+19) rounded out the upper tier of modern first ladies with clearly positive net scores.
Image credits: Getty/Chip Somodevilla
These numbers, the poll noted, showed a consistent pattern with most first ladies being consistently evaluated better than their spouses.
“On average, the 11 most recent first ladies receive higher net ratings than their husbands,” the survey noted.
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Among the largest gaps were Laura Bush (+19) compared to George W. Bush (-22), Pat Nixon (+5) versus Richard Nixon (-35), Barbara Bush (+21) versus George H. W. Bush (-12), Rosalynn Carter (+32) versus Jimmy Carter (+6), and Lady Bird Johnson (+23) versus Lyndon B. Johnson (-1).
Unlike most first ladies, Melania Trump’s approval closely mirrored that of her husband
Image credits: YouGov
Melania Trump stood apart in a different way.
Forty-six percent of Americans rated her as “poor” or “below average,” the highest share of negative evaluations among the 11 first ladies. Her net rating was -16, placing her among the bottom three alongside Hillary Clinton (-17) and Jill Biden (-9).
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Unlike most modern first ladies who outperformed their spouses, Melania’s standing aligned closely with Donald Trump’s.
“Couples that receive similar net ratings to one another are Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and John F. Kennedy (+56 vs. +61), Nancy and Ronald Reagan (+25 vs. +22), Michelle and Barack Obama (+21 vs. +15), and Melania and Donald Trump (-16 vs. -20).”
In that same vein, Donald Trump was the only president in the survey for whom “half of Americans rate as ‘poor.’”
The pattern reflected a broader trend identified in the survey: the “opinion of first ladies generally is politically polarized in a similar way to [the] opinion of their husbands.”
The poll showed a correlation between how recent a presidency was and how polarized it was
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“The three presidents rated as outstanding or above average by the highest shares of Americans among the 20 in the poll are Abraham Lincoln (74%), John F. Kennedy (66%), and George Washington (65%),” the report stated.
Eleven of the 20 presidents tested had positive net ratings. Among those who served in the past 50 years, Ronald Reagan (+22), Jimmy Carter (+6), and Barack Obama (+15) remained in positive territory.
By contrast, six presidents with negative net ratings served within that same period: Lyndon B. Johnson (-1), George H.W. Bush (-12), Bill Clinton (-3), Donald Trump (-20), and Joe Biden (-27).
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Image credits: Trump White House Archived
Polarization in responses grew starker the closer the presidency was to the present day.
Among Democrats, Barack Obama held a +83 net rating while Republicans gave him -60. Donald Trump posted -91 among Democrats and +70 among Republicans. Joe Biden registered +49 among Democrats and -87 among Republicans.
Image credits: Trump White House Archived
Earlier presidents – including George Washington, John Adams, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy – showed “less politically polarized” results, largely because their terms “precede the adult lives of most Americans.”
The poll’s methodology, as per YouGov, carried a margin of error of approximately three percentage points.
"Do we really need a poll?" Netizens took to social media to share their thoughts on the results
