Pope Backfire: Trump's Support Among Catholics Went Up After Trump Fired Back at Pope Leo
Roman Catholic voters are standing by President Donald Trump amid a deep and public spat with Pope Leo XIV, according to recent polling.
Newsweek examined polls from February, March, and April, during which the pope made public his disapproval of the U.S. war against Iran.
Continued sniping from the Vatican led Trump to suggest the pope stick to matters of faith and allow American leaders to govern.
Newsweek used three Fox News polls for its sampling of Roman Catholic opinion. In the first, taken between Feb. 28 and March 2, Roman Catholic voters gave Trump a 52 percent approval rating.
A poll taken between March 20 and March 23, as the pope was criticizing Trump, showed Trump had a 48 percent approval rating among Roman Catholics.
But a third poll, conducted between April 17 and April 20, showed Trump with a 51 percent approval rating with Roman Catholics, even after he suggested the pope should rein in his comments.
🚨 IT’S OFFICIAL: President Trump’s approval rating among CATHOLICS just BUMPED several points after his public scuffle with Pope Leo on Iran
51% of Catholics now approve, per an April Fox poll – and it was previously below that in March 🔥
Trump is following his conscience!… pic.twitter.com/pSMn6Ssb6q
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 24, 2026
White House representative Taylor Rogers suggested Roman Catholics were focused on what Trump was doing for them and not the pope’s commentary.
“There has never been a greater president for Catholic Americans than President Trump, and his record proves it,” Rogers said in a statement.
“President Trump ended the weaponization of the federal government against Christians, proudly defended and expanded our religious rights, pardoned pro-life activists, stopped the chemical mutilation of our nation’s children, and protected parents’ rights. The president will never waver in his support for Catholic Americans and will continue delivering unprecedented victories,” she added.
Newsweek tried to parse the meaning of the poll, suggesting that “institutional authority from the Vatican carries less weight than positions on immigration, national sovereignty, judicial appointments and cultural issues” in the minds of many Roman Catholic voters.
“Trump’s combative posture toward Pope Leo may therefore register less as an insult to faith and more as resistance to clerical involvement in U.S. policymaking,” Newsweek wrote.
Newsweek noted that Vice President J.D. Vance, a Roman Catholic, has been forthright in defending Trump, which could sway voters.
As noted by NBC News, Vance said the pope should “be careful” when assessing U.S. policy.
The pope has said Jesus “is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
Vance said such a statement does not align with justified wars.
“Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps and liberated those, those innocent people, you know, those who had survived the Holocaust? I certainly think the answer is yes,” he said at a Turning Point USA event.
Newsweek concluded that “rather than punishing Trump for confronting the Pope, some Catholic voters appear sympathetic to his argument that elected officials, not church leaders, should set U.S. policy.”
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