First lady Michelle Obama probably helps Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail more than President Obama does, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters on Friday.

“Based on the strong support and deep respect that people across the country have for her, based on the compelling personal argument that she’s been making in support of Secretary Clinton, and she’s also quite talented in her own right at delivering a speech, and those things I do think combine to make her a very powerful advocate for secretary Clinton — and probably the most powerful advocate that Secretary Clinton has,” Earnest told reporters at his daily briefing.

The spokesman had been asked whether he agreed with commentators who have said the first lady is an stronger surrogate for Clinton than even the president has been.

Earnest’s comment came after Michelle Obama won rave reviews from Democrats and some pundits for a pair of high-profile speeches on the campaign trail. The first lady not only strongly endorsed the former secretary of state, but also hit Republican nominee Donald Trump hard and in highly personal terms after a recording surfaced in which the former reality show star brags about kissing and groping women without their consent.

“I have to tell you that I can’t stop thinking about this,” Michelle Obama said in a speech in New Hampshire last week. “It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn’t have predicted. So while I’d love nothing more than to pretend like this isn’t happening, and to come out here and do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous of me to just move on to the next thing like this was all just a bad dream.”

Even the Trump campaign has quietly praised the first lady for her effective work on behalf of Clinton’s campaign. a high-level Trump campaign source, speaking anonymously, told Yahoo News last week that Michelle Obama has a better “connection” to voters than Clinton.

“She’s a much bigger threat than Hillary Clinton because of her charisma, her connection,” the Trump source said. “I mean, she kind of connects like Trump connects, right? She connects like [President] Obama connects. She has a huge connection. … It’s very tough to compete with that.”

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The first lady enjoys considerably higher approval ratings than her husband — at least 10 points better in most public opinion polls.

“She is somebody who enjoys the deep respect of a large majority of Americans,” Earnest said Friday. “She also is somebody who is a very persuasive speaker. She is somebody who has been able to make a forceful personal case about why she’s involved in this election.”