President Donald Trump’s job approval among Catholic voters rebounded in April despite his public feud with Pope Leo XIV intensifying this year.
The shift challenges assumptions that Trump’s attacks on a sitting pope would alienate a key religious voting bloc.
Catholics—long a pivotal swing constituency—appear more resistant to Vatican criticism than many Democratic and Republican strategists had anticipated.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Newsweek in an emailed statement: “There has never been a greater president for Catholic Americans than President Trump, and his record proves it.
“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.”
Newsweek has also contacted the Vatican via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Trump’s escalating row with Pope Leo XIV has generated weeks of global headlines, but new polling suggests it has failed to erode his standing with Catholic voters in the United States.
In fact, support within the group has recovered even as the dispute became more personal and public.
What To Know
Fox News polling conducted across February, March and April shows Trump’s overall approval rating remaining underwater nationally, while his support among Catholics has proven notably more resilient—and at times stronger than among voters overall.
A Fox News national poll conducted February 28-March 2, 2026, under the joint direction of Beacon Research, a Democratic firm, and Shaw & Company Research, a Republican firm, surveyed 1,004 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file.
Interviews were conducted live on landlines and cellphones or completed online via text invitation. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Among all registered voters, 43 percent approved of the job Trump was doing as president, while 57 percent disapproved, giving him a net approval rating of minus 14.
But Catholics told a different story. In that group, 52 percent approved and 48 percent disapproved, placing Trump four points above water with Catholic voters.
That margin narrowed one month later. A second Fox News poll conducted March 20-23, 2026, surveyed 1,001 registered voters using the same methodology, again with a plus or minus 3‑point margin of error.
Nationally, Trump’s approval dipped to 41 percent, while 59 percent disapproved, widening his net negative rating to minus 18.
Among Catholics, approval slipped to 48 percent, with 52 percent disapproving, flipping his net rating with the group to minus 4.
At the time, the shift came amid heightened attention on Trump’s rhetoric toward Pope Leo XIV and growing scrutiny of the administration’s foreign policy stance.
April’s numbers, however, point to a more mixed—and less durable—response among voters.
A Fox News national poll conducted April 17-20, 2026, again surveying registered voters drawn from a national voter file and interviewed by phone or online, showed Trump’s national approval inching back up to 42 percent, with 58 percent disapproving, for a net rating of minus 16. The margin of error remained plus or minus 3 points.
Among Catholics, Trump’s approval rebounded to 51 percent, while 49 percent disapproved, restoring him to net‑positive territory with the group—even after weeks of headline‑dominating confrontation with the Vatican.
Taken together, the three polls suggest Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo have not produced a lasting backlash among Catholic voters. If anything, the group’s support appears elastic rather than fragile.
Timeline of Trump’s Row With the Pope
January 2026:Tensions first surfaced when Pope Leo XIV issued public criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and U.S. foreign policy, marking a sharper Vatican posture toward Washington.
February 28, 2026:The dispute intensified after U.S. military action against Iran. Pope Leo responded with unusually direct moral objections, urging restraint and warning against escalation—remarks widely interpreted as aimed at Trump’s leadership.
March 2026:As Vatican criticism sharpened, Trump allies framed the Pope’s intervention as political overreach, arguing that Leo was stepping beyond spiritual leadership into partisan terrain.
April 12, 2026:Trump escalated the conflict publicly, launching direct personal attacks on Pope Leo and dismissing his authority to criticize U.S. policy, turning a policy disagreement into an open feud.
Why Catholics May Be Reacting Differently
From a voter‑behavior standpoint, Trump’s durability with Catholics reflects longer‑term shifts in how religious identity intersects with American politics.
Catholic voters are not a single ideological bloc. Polling over the past decade has consistently shown sharp divides along partisan, racial and educational lines.
White Catholics, in particular, have trended Republican, while non‑white Catholics align more closely with Democrats—a pattern that mirrors the electorate as a whole.
For many Catholic voters, institutional authority from the Vatican carries less weight than positions on immigration, national sovereignty, judicial appointments and cultural issues.
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.
JD Vance’s presence as vice president may also shape perceptions. A Catholic convert himself, Vance has defended Trump’s stance while framing the conflict as political rather than theological—a distinction that appears to resonate with voters who draw a firm line between religion and governance.
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.
The Bottom Line
Trump remains unpopular nationally, but Catholic voters have not broken from him as his dispute with Pope Leo has escalated.
April’s rebound suggests the clash has failed to inflict lasting political damage—and may even reinforce existing loyalties among segments of the Catholic electorate.
Update: 04/23/26, 09:12 a.m. ET. This article has been updated with a White House statement.
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