I’ve no doubt that Pope Francis’s visit to the US will be a great success (and I have very little doubt that Speaker Boehner will come to regret having invited the pontiff to speak to a joint session of Congress). That said, new Gallup poll findings suggest that the papal demagoguery is beginning to jar with some listeners:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pope Francis’ favorability rating in the U.S. has returned to where it was when he was elected pope. It is now at 59%, down from 76% in early 2014. The pontiff’s rating is similar to the 58% he received from Americans in April 2013, soon after he was elected pope….
… In the current poll, conducted July 8-12, Francis’ favorable rating [59%] declined, while his unfavorable rating increased to 16% from 9% in 2014. One-quarter of Americans say they have never heard of him or have no opinion, up from 16% in 2014. Now removed from the plaudits of 2013 and the high ratings of 2014, it appears that fewer Americans know enough about the pope to be able to rate him.
… The drop in the pope’s favorable rating is driven by a decline among Catholics and political conservatives, two groups that have been ardent supporters of the modern papacy. Seventy-one percent of Catholics say they have a favorable image of Francis, down from 89% last year.
Pope Francis’ drop in favorability is even starker among Americans who identify as conservative — 45% of whom view him favorably, down sharply from 72% last year. This decline may be attributable to the pope’s denouncing of “the idolatry of money” and linking climate change partially to human activity, along with his passionate focus on income inequality — all issues that are at odds with many conservatives’ beliefs.
Gallup rightly points out that Francis’s favourable ratings comfortably exceed those for Benedict XVI in the last year of his tenure (40 percent, a very low bar), but to the extent that some people are beginning to focus on Francis’s ideology rather than his charm, this first blip in the popularity of the ‘rock star’ pope is only to be welcomed.
And it’s not just those on the right who are beginning to fret.
Gallup again:
The pope’s image has taken a hit among liberals and moderates as well. Francis’ favorable rating among liberals fell 14 percentage points. Many liberals have criticized the pope for not embracing ordination of women as priests or allowing priests to marry. His papacy is still relatively new, however, and in time he may address these long-standing doctrinal questions more fully.
Beyond some mood music, I doubt it. This is after all a pope with quite a lot of that old time religion about him, a man who (when still a cardinal) described same sex marriage as the work of that busy fellow, the Devil.
That said, I think that the Pope’s theological conservatism will continue to be largely overlooked by a left only too pleased to have found a charismatic new spokesman for their crusade against climate change and for economic superstition.
Links
http://www.gallup.com/poll/184283/pope-francis-favorable-rating-drops.aspx
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/cardinal_bergoglio_hits_out_at_same-sex_marriage