First Lady Michelle Obama is keeping pace with her hugely popular husband, earning positive ratings among more voters than previous first ladies have had at this stage in their husbands’ terms.

Mrs. Obama gets favorable marks from 49 percent of voters in a CBS-New York Times poll out yesterday, with just 5 percent seeing her unfavorably.

Another 44 percent said they were undecided or needed more information about her.

Still, that has Mrs. Obama leading the recent pack of first ladies in approval numbers.

At the start of her husband’s first term, Laura Bush had a 30 percent favorable rating.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, while she would go on to become a lightning rod for GOP criticism, began with a 44 percent approval rate when Bill Clinton took office in early 1993, and had a disapproval rate of 16 percent.