First lady Michelle Obama remains popular among Americans, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday.
Gallup found that two-thirds of Americans have a favorable view of the first lady, unchanged from nearly two years ago. Her ratings have stayed nearly the same since Barack Obama was inaugurated as president.
During the 2008 presidential election, the first lady had approval ratings no higher than 54 percent. Opinions of her became more positive in January 2009 and rose to 68 percent, just before the inauguration, according to Gallup.
In the same poll, Gallup found that the first lady outranks the president when it comes to popularity. The president has a 52 percent positive rating among Americans. The first lady is more popular among independents and Republicans than the president, while Democrats view the two equally positive.
Americans generally have a more favorable opinion of the first lady than of the president, Gallup said, perhaps because of the first lady's largely ceremonial position.
Michelle Obama's rating puts her in line with Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton who also received a 66 percent favorable rating.
The first lady stopped by "The Daily Show" on Tuesday night and joked with host Jon Stewart about the numbers. Stewart compared the first lady's approval rating to "ice cream" while the president's to "vegetables." She insisted that she doesn't use her higher popularity to settle marriage quarrels with her husband.
"No, I don't wield it over him," Obama said. "The truth is, one of the things I've seen over the last three and a half years is, I've seen what it takes to be president. I kind of watch this thing pretty closely."
Gallup conducted the poll from May 10 to 13 with a sample of 1,012 adults and a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
by RTT Staff Writer
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