Meghan Markle’s popularity among Americans fell in the first three months of 2026, at the same time as visits to her As Ever online shop also dipped, according to polling and web traffic data examined by Newsweek.
The Duchess of Sussex became a lifestyle influencer in 2025 with a Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, linked to her online store, where she sells produce including jam, honey, wine and other goods.
No official sales figures have been released, prompting debate about the health of her business. However, Newsweek has been using web traffic data to try to lend empirical evidence to questions about the business’s performance.
There appears to have been a decline in her U.S. popularity at broadly the same time as a significant drop in U.S. visitors to her website. Correlation does not imply causation, and the overlap may be coincidental. However, if the trend persists, it is likely to draw attention from Meghan’s team as they plan their future marketing strategy.
Why It Matters
Meghan has historically inspired strong opinions from fans and detractors alike, but since January 2023, there has been a measurable dip in her popularity in the United States.
One significant question is whether this will damage her ability to make money from her business ventures. Newsweek has compared popularity data collected by YouGov America with audience data for As Ever from the digital intelligence platform Similarweb.
Meghan Markle’s Popularity Data for Q1 2026
Meghan was liked by 29 percent and disliked by 27 percent of respondents in a poll of around 1,300 Americans conducted by YouGov over the first three months of 2026, giving her a net rating of +2. The methodology, based on YouGov’s rolling Ratings system, differs from traditional polling in that responses are collected continuously throughout the year and presented in quarterly datasets, providing a more stable measure of sentiment.
These figures represent a sharp drop from the third quarter of 2025, when Meghan was liked by 37 percent and disliked by 22 percent of respondents, giving her a net approval rating of +15. That equates to a 13-point decline over two quarters.
Newsweek has used YouGov’s ratings system because it is a useful tool for tracking popularity in detail over broad timelines.
Meghan Markle’s As Ever Web Traffic in Early 2026
Traffic on Meghan’s As Ever website appears to have slowed over the same three-month period, as measured by Similarweb.
In December, Meghan recorded around 246,000 visits to the site, of which around 108,000 were from the U.S. In January, her total number of visits rose to 268,000, but U.S. visits fell to 89,000, indicating that U.S. traffic declined despite an overall increase in visits.
The U.S. is currently the only country she ships to, making the geographic breakdown particularly significant. Meghan has said she plans to take her business global, but has not launched internationally yet.
In February, traffic fell to 213,000 visits, including about 83,500 from the U.S. It recovered slightly in March to 226,000 (94,000 U.S.), before dropping again in April to 178,000, with around 61,500 U.S. users.
This suggests a broad overlap between Meghan’s declining U.S. popularity and the fall in U.S. site visits, from 108,000 in December to 61,500 in April.
Analysis
It is too early to establish any causal relationship between the two datasets, particularly given the seasonal nature of consumer demand. Christmas may have provided a boost to December sales, for example.
Separately, a website glitch in January revealed she had around 650,190 units of unsold stock at that time. Not all visitors convert to customers, so the level of traffic recorded in subsequent months raises questions about how quickly that inventory is being cleared.