Pope’s popularity declines in US ahead of visit

Pope Francis’ popularity in the US has tumbled, according to a new Gallup poll, writes Michael Sean Winters.

Last year Pope Francis, who is to visit the US from 22 to 27 September, enjoyed a 76 per cent favourable rating among all Americans, but that number has dropped to 59 per cent. Among Catholics only, Francis’ popularity declined from 89 per cent to 71 per cent. The number of people who expressed no opinion, or indicated they don’t know enough about the Pope to form a judgement, increased from 16 per cent last year to 25 per cent today.

The sharpest decline in the Pope’s popularity came among self-described conservatives. In 2014, 72 per cent approved of Pope Francis but in 2015 only 45 per cent voiced approval. Francis’ numbers among self-described liberals also declined, from 82 per cent to 68 per cent. The poll has a margin of error of 4 per cent.

In presenting the new findings, Gallup analyst Art Swift said, “This decline may be attributable to the Pope’s denouncing of ‘the idolatry of money’ and attributing climate change partially to human activity, along with his passionate focus on income inequality – all issues at odds with many conservatives’ beliefs.” Many conservative Americans do not attribute climate change to human activity and Americans of all political stripes are reluctant to question contemporary capitalism.

n Presidential candidates have begun speaking about poverty, and what they will do about it, in videos requested by the Circle of Protection, an interfaith group formed four years ago to protect programmes that assist the poor from budget cuts.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said in his video: “It’s going to be folks like us, not some programme out of Washington, that’s going to do it [address poverty]. The heroes of the anti-poverty movement are you.”

Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, whose 2008 presidential bid won a lot of support from Christian evangelical voters, criticised government programmes and said he did not support raising the minimum wage. Senator Bernie Sanders, a socialist seeking the Democratic nomination, was the only candidate on the left to send in a video so far. He called for an end to tax breaks for the wealthy and supported raising the minimum wage.