New Poll Finds Pope Francis Still Enjoys Widespread Popularity in U.S.

By Christopher White
Crux
September 29, 2017

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2017/09/29/new-poll-finds-pope-francis-still-enjoys-widespread-popularity-u-s/

Pope Francis addresses the US Congress on Sept. 24, 2015. (Credit: AP.)

Two years after his visit to the United States in September 2015, Pope Francis is still enjoying widespread approval in the country. New polling results from Saint Leo University Polling Institute found the pope's overall approval ratings held high, despite waning support for his handling of clergy sexual abuse and immigration.

Two years after Pope Francis visited the United States in September 2015 and four months after his first meeting with President Donald Trump, the pope’s overall approval among Americans Catholics is at 87.9 percent-up from 82.6 this past March.

While the new data evidences a five-point bump among the U.S. Catholic population, his popularity dipped slightly among the general U.S. population, now at 67.9 percent approval, down slightly from 70.5 percent last March.

The polling, which was carried out by Saint Leo University Polling Institute, took place from September 10-16 among 1,000 individuals.

Respondents were asked to weigh in on six areas of the pope’s job performance: Advancing the cause of the poor, human rights work, environmental issues, migration and immigration, handling cases of sexual abuse involving Catholic clergy, and marriage and family issues.

The pope received his lowest approval for his handling of sexual abuse issues, with 46.4 percent of national respondents saying they “strongly or somewhat approve” of his work in this area, while 30.8 percent say they “somewhat and strongly disapprove” of the pope’s course of action.

Just last week Francis admitted that the Church waited too long to respond to the sexual abuse crisis and expressed regret for his decision to give a priest accused of abuse a lesser sentence than had originally been recommended.

“I was new and I did not understand these things well,” he said.

The pope’s remarks on sexual abuse came during a meeting with members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, in which he praised them for their work in fighting sexual abuse, while at the same time acknowledging the sluggish response of some Church leaders.

“You have had to swim against the current because there is a reality: the church has taken consciousness about these crimes in a delayed manner,” he said.

The pope also managed to lose a bit of support for his work on immigration, dipping from a 54.4 percent approval in March to 53.8 percent in the September poll. However, the poll also showed a 19.7 percent disapproval of his work on immigration, a decrease from 21.1 in March.

On Wednesday of this week, Francis kicked off a two-year global campaign, “Share the Journey,” meant to promote a great welcome of migrants and refugees. In response, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is calling for a National Week of Prayer and Action, scheduled from October 7-13.