Melania Trump's Dwindling Popularity Makes Donald's 'Movie Star' Claims Total BS

Donald Trump has a passion for bestowing nicknames ranging from insulting to affectionate. In the case of his wife, Melania Trump, he seems to prefer career-inspired monikers. Six months into his second presidential term, Donald revealed that his pet name for Melania was "First Lady." After Melania's documentary hit screens in late January 2026, Trump added "movie star" to the nickname rotation. He's continued to use it during speeches as well as at the White House's Easter Egg Roll, when he likely confused a young attendee about Melania's identity. This lack of recognition isn't necessarily correlated with popularity (Catherine, Princess of Wales, has been incognito with kids, too). However, among those well aware of the first lady, her reputation has taken a significant hit.

According to an April 2026 report from Harry Enten, CNN's chief data analyst, Melania's popularity sank to -12 — a 15-point fall since Donald's second inauguration. "Historic lows for Melania Trump. These numbers are absolutely awful," Enten declared (via X). Compared to four other first ladies in a similar time frame, Melania's stats were the lowest by a pretty wide margin. 

Enten's poll wasn't the only one. In a YouGov survey from February 2026, Melania scored second lowest (-16) in a group of 11 first ladies, including Jackie Kennedy. When Donald declared Melania's similarities to Jackie in 2019, the internet gave a hard disagree. Seven years later, attitudes hadn't shifted. Jackie had the highest score in the YouGov poll: 72 points higher than Melania.

Melania Trump's not the only one in her family who's experiencing a lack of public approval. Donald Trump's been struggling with unpopularity, both in the polls and in the lack of interest in his MAGA merch. In Melania's case, some of her recent business ventures could be dinging her popularity, especially her recent documentary. "I think a lot of people saw it as political, even if she didn't want it to be," Harry Enten theorized (via X). Since the movie's timeline was limited to the lead-up to Donald's 2025 inauguration, it may have influenced people's perception of it as political.

Although the film generated a ton of interest when it debuted on streaming, Melania's movie ticket sales were catastrophically bad, indicating that there was a group of people who were curious about it but unwilling to pay extra. Once people saw it, many weren't impressed. On Rotten Tomatoes, a 10% critic score reflected the brutal reviews Melania's documentary received. In The New York Times, columnist Carlos Lozada noted, "It's a feat of filmmaking to spend so much time on one person and reveal so little." 

As for general audiences, at first glance, Rotten Tomatoes 98% score seemed to offer hope, but that was only taking verified users into account. The number plummeted to 33% with all audience reviews. "Half a star is generous," declared one user. "The whole thing had an infomercial vibe, which is great if your goal is to fall asleep with background noise."