Michelle Obama has left her husband way behind in America’s popularity stakes.
The First Lady returned to the campaign（竞选活动） trail this week for the first time since 2008 after her approval rating（支持率） rocketed to 65% - twenty points higher than the president.
With only a quarter of those questioned in the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation（公司） poll expressing their disapproval, Mrs Obama is seen as a saviour for beleaguered Democrats in the run-up to next month’s mid-term elections.
She is so popular that some congressional（国会的议会的） candidates have expressed more excitement at the prospect of campaigning with her than with her husband.
After the First Lady’s trip to the same state on Wednesday on the first stop of her seven-state tour, Senator Feingold’s popularity spiked to its highest level of his campaign and she helped him raise more than ?150,000 ($240,000).
Several Democrat candidates have aired TV adverts highlighting votes in Congress where they have opposed the White House. Others have quietly told the president’s office that they would prefer it if he stayed away.
But everybody is clamouring for the First Lady.
She was in Illinois and Colorado yesterday and will be making speeches in a string of states, including California, Washington and Connecticut, over the next fortnight.
With Democrats suffering from an ‘enthusiasm（热心,热忱,热情）’ gap, Mrs Obama tried to inject some pizzazz into the proceedings at a Milwaukee fund-raiser, wearing a pink dress and a sparkly necklace.
Advisers are pushing her to remind her audiences of the excitement that built up around her husband’s inauguration, when the country was in a far more hopeful mood.
She is also acting as first cheerleader for her husband, who is coming under fire over America’s prolonged economic slump.
The survey results indicated that six out of ten men and more than seven out of ten women approve of Mrs Obama’s performance as First Lady.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)
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