New Poll Finds Pope’s Unfavourable Rating Among Americans at All-Time High

I'm sure that if it had been taken a week or so later after Francis and his Modernist Minion™, 'Tucho', attacked the Catholic Faith, the figures would have been worse for him.

From the Catholic Herald

By John Lavenburg/Crux

A new survey conducted this past December has found that while most American adults still have a favourable view of Pope Francis, the percentage that hold an unfavourable opinion of the pontiff has risen to a new ten-year high.

The survey, conducted 1-20 Dec by the Gallup organisation, found that 58 per cent of American adults overall have a favourable opinion of Francis, the same as when he became pope in 2013. However, over the same period, the percentage of American adults who have an unfavourable opinion of Francis has risen from 10 per cent to a new high of 30 per cent.

The percentage of American adults who have not heard of, or hold no opinion of, the pontiff has also dropped from 31 per cent in 2013 to 11 per cent in the latest survey, the data shows.

The survey data shows a similar trend among American Catholics as among American adults generally, in the sense of a rising level of unfavourable opinion. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given a polarised political environment in both Church and state, Francis’s favourability amongst self-described liberal American Catholics has increased since 2013, while his favourability among conservative American Catholics has declined.

The survey found that 77 per cent of American Catholics overall have a favourable view of Francis, compared to 80 per cent in 2013. Meanwhile, 17 per cent of American Catholics have an unfavourable view of Francis, up from five per cent in 2013.

The percentage of American Catholics who have not heard of Francis, or have no opinion of him, fell to four per cent from 14 per cent in 2013.

As for what the survey found when breaking down American Catholics by their ideologies, 70 per cent of liberal American Catholics have a favourable view of Francis, up from 54 per cent in 2013. Meanwhile, 42 per cent of conservative American Catholics have a favourable view of Francis in the latest survey, a decrease from 62 per cent in 2013, the data shows.

As for moderate American Catholics, the change is less sharp. 66 per cent of self-described moderate American Catholics have a favourable view of Francis in the latest survey, compared to 59 per cent in 2013.

Based on the survey results, Francis is viewed more favourably than Pope Benedict XVI was during his papacy, but less favourably than Pope John Paul II.

In the last Gallup survey on Benedict in 2010, while he was still in office, he was viewed favourably by 40 per cent of Americans and unfavourably by 35 per cent of Americans. Strikingly, Benedict’s favourable rating among conservatives, 46 per cent, was only slightly higher than Francis’s today, perhaps because the poll was taken amid scandals involving both clerical sexual abuse in Ireland and across Europe, as well as the rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying traditionalist bishop.

“Although Benedict received higher ratings before 2010, his ratings were never as positive as Francis’ highest,” the survey states. “In contrast, Pope John Paul II, who preceded Benedict and served for almost 27 years, was consistently viewed favourably by more than 60 per cent of Americans in the 1990s and 2000s.”

John Paul II’s highest rating was 86 per cent in 1998, the survey states.

A spokesperson for Gallup told Crux that there is no significance to the timing of the latest survey – or the other seven conducted on Francis of the same nature – other than the organisation was updating favourability ratings on public figures and decided to include him. In between the 2013 and 2023 surveys, the results hovered around the same percentages.

“[Francis’s] first rating was likely collected to measure his public image at the beginning of his papacy, but his following ratings were collected as part of Gallup’s periodic updates, which follow no particular calendar,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Gallup notes in their December survey that the Vatican’s Dec. 18 announcement allowing priests to bless same-sex couples “is not significantly reflected in the findings.” The spokesperson said Gallup did not ask any follow-up questions to provide context as to why Francis is viewed favourably or unfavourably.