The media has done its best to try and portray outgoing first lady Jill Biden as a widely beloved and hugely popular figure, particularly in comparison to her predecessor and successor, former and future first lady Melania Trump, but have been largely unsuccessful.

A recent poll to rank the popularity of modern-era first ladies revealed that Trump was far better liked than Biden, according to the Daily Mail.

Melania was favored by 39% of respondents compared to just 10% for Jill, but both trailed former first lady Michelle Obama, who ranked first at 43%.

Melania popular with positive approval ratings

The Daily Mail teamed up with polling firm J.L. Partners to survey 1,009 registered voters to determine who is currently the most popular first lady, and as noted, Michelle Obama came in first at 43% but was followed by Melania Trump in a close second at 39%, with Jill Biden trailing far behind at just 10%.

The poll found that Melania also bested Jill in terms of their approval and disapproval ratings, though the margin was a bit slimmer.

The incoming first lady garnered the approval of 47% of respondents with a disapproval rating of 35%, compared to the outgoing first lady whose approval and disapproval were tied at 41%. The outlet did not share the approval/disapproval numbers for Obama.

Numbers were not great for Melania four years ago

Those numbers for Melania Trump represent a stark turnaround from just four years earlier when she left office as the least popular first lady of the modern era, according to the Washingtonian in Jan. 2021.

At that time, Melania had a favorability rating of 42% but was viewed unfavorably by 47%, which was significantly worse than the average numbers of 71% favorable and 21% unfavorable for the first ladies of the prior eight administrations.

Along those same lines, the pollsters at Zogby asked more than 5,000 likely voters in mid-2021 to rank the "greatness" of first ladies during the modern era that dates back to the early 1960s, and found that Trump ranked near the bottom at 34.1% while Biden was in the middle of the pack at 38.7%.

Tracking public approval while in office

Things have certainly changed over the past four years, however, as Melania's popularity has improved since she left office while Jill's has fallen while she's been in office, according to a March 2024 report from Newsweek.

Notably, Melania entered office in 2017 with 36% approval, saw that improve to 57% by May 2018, then watched it fall and flatten out at 42% when she left office. At the same time, her disapproval began at 35%, fell to 27% in 2018, but then steadily increased to 47% by Jan. 2020.

Conversely, Jill entered office in 2021 with 58% approval but almost immediately witnessed that number drop precipitously to 34% by mid-2022 and bottom out at around 25% a little more than a year ago. As for Jill's disapproval, it began at 28% but only rose marginally to 31% by the end of 2023.

What will their numbers look like in another four years?

Given that the American people's opinion of Melania Trump has improved over the four years that have elapsed since she previously served as first lady, it will be interesting to see what is in store for the next four years and whether her popularity increases, decreases, remains steady, or fluctuates wildly.

As for Jill Biden, she will likely take over the mantle of the least popular outgoing first lady when she leaves office next week, and it remains to be seen if her status improves similarly over time once she is no longer in the public eye.