Pope Leo's popularity withstands Trump's papal attacks
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Pope Leo XIV greets faithful as he arrives in St. Peter's Square on October 01, 2025 in Vatican City. Photo: Simone Risoluti, Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images.
More Americans approve of Pope Leo XIV than President Trump, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday.
Why it matters: Trump has continued to levy attacks against Leo as the two disagree on the Iran war, and the poll's findings suggest that the president's rhetoric could alienate Catholic Americans who helped catapult him back into the White House.
By the numbers: About 36% of Americans approve of Trump's job performance, compared to 60% who approve of Leo's, according to the poll.
- Trump's rating is unchanged from the previous month, but significantly down from 47%, the second-term high he scored shortly after being sworn in last January.
- Leo was also ranked the highest in a survey of top American newsmakers in August 2025, according to Gallup polling, with 57% having favorable opinions and 31% having no opinion.
- Those numbers align with other modern papal debuts: 58% viewed Pope Francis favorably and 55% viewed Pope Benedict favorably.
Zoom out: About 48% of Americans agree with Leo's statements on the war in Iran, compared to 24% who disapprove, per a mid-April Economist/YouGov poll.
- 28% sided with Trump and Vance, and 24% had no opinion, per polling data.
Those numbers come after Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Leo after the pope called Trump's threat to obliterate Iran's civilization "truly unacceptable." Leo has continued to rebuke the administration while calling for global peace and saying he doesn't want to be put into a feud with Trump.
- Members of Trump's Cabinet — including Vice President JD Vance, the highest-ranking Catholic elected official — took the president's side, saying the pontiff should stay out of U.S. military policy.
What they're saying: "President Trump campaigned proudly on his promise to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, which is what this noble operation accomplishes," White House Spokesperson Davis Ingle said in an emailed statement.
- "The President does not make these incredibly important national security decisions based on fluid opinion polls, but on the best interest of the American people."
The intrigue: Catholics are the nation's largest religious swing voter group, and if they turn against the president, Republicans could face trouble in the upcoming midterm elections.
- More broadly, the president's 2024 mega-coalition has fractured for months as Trump struggles to focus on addressing affordability instead of culture war fights and personal grievances in his speeches.
- The Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only 26% of Americans describe the president as "even-tempered," including 46% of Republicans who say he is not.
Methodology: The six-day Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded Monday and surveyed 4,557 U.S. adults. The margin of error was 2 percentage points.
The Economist/YouGov Poll was conducted from April 17-20 and surveyed 1707 adults, 1503 of whom are registered voters. The margin of error for all respondents is 3.3 percentage points, and 3.1 percentage points among registered voters.
Go deeper: Trump's pope spat risks feud with crucial Catholic swing voters
