Exactly one year after assuming office, President Donald Trump is the most unpopular first-year commander-in-chief in modern American history—and according to a new survey, has dragged almost his entire family’s reputation down with him.
A new Economist/YouGov poll released on Friday shows every adult member of the Trump clan with underwater favorability ratings, with one exception: first lady Melania Trump. According to the poll, conducted at the beginning of this week and released on the eve of the first anniversary of Trump’s inauguration, Melania Trump is viewed very or somewhat favorably by 48 percent of the survey’s 1,500 respondents, and unfavorably by 33 percent.
The first lady, who once told a group of hospital-bound children that her Christmas wish was to escape to a deserted island, outpaces every other member of the first family: President Trump is viewed favorably by 43 percent of respondents and unfavorably by 52 percent; Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner are even more unpopular, viewed favorably by a respective 41 percent and 25 percent of respondents, with unfavorables in the mid-forties for both.
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(The news is unlikely to please the famously poll-obsessed president—if it even reaches him. Aides and advisors have reportedly made the choice to only show Trump “positive” polling numbers.)
“At the start of the Trump Presidency, Mrs. Trump and the President’s daughter Ivanka were equally popular,” the poll’s authors stated. “Now Americans are as likely to have a negative view of the First Daughter as a positive one, but they remain favorable towards Mrs. Trump.”
For members of the Trump clan not (officially) involved in government, the favorability ratings are in the sub-basement. Donald Trump Jr. was rated favorably by 36 percent of respondents and unfavorably by nearly 50 percent, while Eric Trump is viewed favorably by only 32 percent—and unfavorably by 43 percent.
President Trump has remarked that Melania “truly loves” being first lady, but her paucity of public engagements, events and remarks may be the secret to her (relative) success among her relatives. Reports that she never wanted to be first lady do, however, appear to have put a damper on her approval ratings in comparison to her predecessor. At the same time in her husband’s term, Michelle Obama was viewed favorably by 57 percent of the same poll’s respondents, and unfavorably by 30 percent.
Tiffany Trump’s favorability was not surveyed.
