politics

Melania Trump's approval rating has taken a turn no one saw coming.

Just seven weeks after watching on as Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America, Melania Trump seems to be slowly but surely winning over the nation, with an approval rating poll released this week showing she is now more popular than her husband.

The First Lady now boasts an approval rating of 52 per cent – up 16 points since the inauguration – while her husband sits at a more conservative 45 per cent.

What has caused the public’s shift of opinion, though, remains unclear.

melania trump white house
Melania Trump in Washington for International Women's Day. Source: Getty.
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Since her husband took office in January, Melania has opted to remain largely out of the spotlight, choosing to continue living in New York with the couple's son Barron, being seen with Donald only on weekends and at a limited number public engagements.

Obviously, Melania is well within her rights to make choices on how and where she spends her time, and how much of an active role she wishes to play in her husband's latest career move. Like every First Lady before her, she is different and owes no explanation for her decision.

But because of her reservations from public life, the only real exposure the American people are given to Melania is shots of her waving from private planes and smiling from the stands while her husband speaks.

And if it's this model of playing the silent, smiling, diligent wife that has got over half the country singing her praises, well, there's clearly a huge problem in that.

Listen: Questioning Melania Trump's political beliefs is one thing, but making fun of her accent and citizenship is another, says Mamamia Out Loud. Post continues... 

The increase in approval ratings comes one month after several reports were made that the First Lady is "miserable" and feeling "unhappy with how her life ended up."

A friend of the family, stylist Phillip Bloch told Us Weekly at the time "this life wasn't her dream. It was Donald's," adding, "Truthfully, it’s a lot to cope with."

Another source allegedly close to the 46-year-old also told the publication, "Don’t let her smile in those photos fool you, she hates this."

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melania trump approval rating
What can we say? The people love Melania. Source: Getty.

Interestingly, the same poll showed that 32 per cent of Americans still held an unfavourable view of the First Lady, while 12 per cent had no opinion and three per cent were unfamiliar with who she was.

Eighty-six per cent of Republicans say they are in favour of Melania, while only 22 per cent of Democrats said they approve of her new role.