Melania Trump's favourable rating climbs since January, outpaces Donald's

US first lady Melania Trump is viewed favourably by more Americans now than before, a new poll shows. The number of Americans polled who said they have favourable views of the FLOTUS was up 17 points from January.

The new measure from a Gallup survey is comparable to just 37 percent of Americans who viewed her favourably during the first days of US President Donald Trump’s administration. Only a third of Americans surveyed or 33 percent now have an unfavourable view of Melania. Thirteen percent of those who participated in the poll said they have no opinion.

On the other hand, the president is viewed unfavourably by a majority of Americans or 56 percent who responded to the poll. Forty-one percent view him favourably. While Melania saw her popularity climb by double digits in the survey, Trump’s remain relatively the same from his 40 percent to 55 percent favourable-unfavourable rating from the start of the year.

The FLOTUS did not move to the White House immediately after Trump took office in January. She stayed with her son Barron until he finished the school year before she moved to Washington with her husband in June.

The former model has maintained a public presence since she settled into her role. Recently, she attended a Toys for Tots campaign and showed off the official White House Christmas decorations.

Last week, the Trumps released their first official Christmas portrait as POTUS and first lady. The photo was taken by photographer Andrea Hanks. Melania shared it on her official Twitter account.

Despite her increasing popularity, Melania is still behind her predecessors during the fall of their spouses’ first year in office. Former US first lady Michelle Obama was viewed favourably by 61 percent of Americans. Former FLOTUS Hillary Clinton held a 58 percent favourable rating. Laura Bush’s was at 77 percent.

Melania and Donald’s case is not the first time a first lady outpaced her husband. Both Obama and Bush outpaced former US presidents. They held an average 12-point and 17-point edge in favourability, respectively, over their spouses. Melania’s current 13-point favourability lead over her husband is roughly in line with those of the last two FLOTUS.

The Gallup poll involved 1,049 adult respondents. It was conducted from December 4 to 11 through cellphones and landlines with a margin of error of 4 percentage points.