Michelle Obama Starts Second Year With High Favorable Rating, Poll Shows

As she begins her second year as first lady, Michelle Obama has better "personal favorable ratings" than former first ladies Laura Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton did at the same point in their White House days. She completed her first year keeping her ratings high while President Obama's numbers took a hit.
That's according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center, which compared first-year favorable/unfavorable ratings for the last three first ladies. The research provides historical tracking data on public perceptions of first ladies.

Highlights:

-- A November survey by the Pew Research Center found 71 percent expressed a favorable opinion of Michelle Obama while just 16 percent expressed an unfavorable view.

-- During her first year, Laura Bush, in July, 2001 had a 64 percent favorable rating. In May 1993, Hillary Clinton had a 60 percent favorable rating.

-- The data also allows for some interesting comparisons. For example, Mrs. Obama gets higher scores from women during her first year than Mrs. Bush or Mrs. Clinton. Some 77 percent of females responding in that November survey gave Mrs. Obama favorable scores, in contrast to 69 percent of women for Mrs. Clinton in that 1993 survey and 66 percent for Mrs. Bush in the 2001 poll.

-- Looking at the age demographic, Mrs. Obama gets her best ratings -- 74 percent -- in the 30-49 age group. Mrs. Bush did her best -- 76 percent favorable -- in the 50-64 age block while Mrs. Clinton's best was 62 percent in the 30-49 group.

-- Mrs. Obama did better than the two women who preceded her among college graduates -- 73 percent favorable to 71 percent for Mrs. Bush and 60 percent for Mrs. Clinton. Among those with high school degrees or less, Mrs. Obama's favorable was 72 percent to 58 percent for Mrs. Bush and 61 percent for Mrs. Clinton.

-- The biggest split is along racial lines: Mrs. Obama was scored favorable by 96 percent of blacks compared to 84 percent for Mrs. Clinton and 37 percent for Mrs. Bush. Whites surveyed gave 70 percent approval ratings to Mrs. Bush compared to 57 percent for Mrs. Clinton and 66 percent for Mrs. Obama.

-- The Pew report attributed Mrs. Clinton's overall lower numbers to her involvement early on as the leader of the Clinton health care reform proposal.

In Pew polls in 2009, Mrs. Obama started behind but ended up better than President Obama: Her favorables were 68 percent in January, 76 percent in April, and 71 percent in November. Obama in those surveys scored a 79 percent favorable in January, 73 percent in April, and 65 percent in November.

My column on how Mrs. Obama turned around her image can be found here