The first lady’s approval rating dropped 11 percentage points in a couple of months.<\/b>
\nFirst lady Melania Trump, who has recently spoken out against media criticism and \u201cfake news,\u201d has seen her approval rating drop to closely match that of her husband, President Donald Trump.
Only 43 percent of respondents in a CNN poll released on Thursday viewed Melania Trump favorably, down from 54 percent who had a favorable view of her in October.
President Trump\u2019s latest approval rating is 42.2 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Melania Trump hit her highest approval rating in the CNN poll in May, at 57 percent. That as shortly after she did extensive planning and hosted the first White House state dinner. It was a few months after reports emerged about her husband\u2019s alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Her approval rating has varied more than that of the president, who has spent the majority of his tenure well below 50 percent.
The first lady had been the most popular member of the Trump family, with 48 percent viewing her favorably, in an Economist \/YouGov poll conducted in January.
But several recent actions may have caused her popularity to decline. In June, she was heavily criticized for wearing a Zara jacket with \u201cI Really Don\u2019t Care, Do U?\u201d written on the back to visit a detention center for migrant children.
In October, Melania Trump said she launched her \u201cBe Best\u201d campaign to help children and fight cyberbullying because she is „the most bullied person on the world,“ or at least \u201cone of them, if you really see what people saying about me.\u201d
While pushing her campaign in November, she said, \u201cit is not news or surprising to me that critics in the media have chosen to ridicule me for speaking out on this issue\u2014and that\u2019s OK.\u201d
The first lady went even further on the defensive later that month by suggesting that her husband\u2019s combative behavior on social media is in some cases justified.
\u201cSometimes, you need to fight back. I’m sorry,\u201d she said.
Melania Trump piggybacked on her husband\u2019s criticism of the \u201cfake news\u201d media in a sit-down interview with Fox News on Wednesday.
\u201cBelieve it or not, even when I\u2019m in Washington or New York, I do not watch much television. People that don\u2019t know me, they like to say I watch television\u2014people with fake sources,\u201d she said.
Donald Trump and wife Melania Trump watches the Leo Santa Cruz against Jose Cayetano featherweight bout on May 2,2015, at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Melania Trump’s approval rating dropped to close to that of her husband. Al Bello\/Getty Images
The latest CNN poll was conducted from December 6 to 9 and included 1,015 respondents. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.<\/p>\n