Most Americans want Pope Francis to play an active role in world affairs, and most of the Pope's global stances are popular
Pope Francis gets high marks for his efforts in world affairs: Americans in the latest Economist/YouGov Poll, both Catholics and non-Catholics, agree that he should take an active part in world affairs and they believe he can have at least some influence on them.
Catholics are particularly interested in having the Pope take an active role in the world. 70% of Catholics in the poll favored his involvement, and even more church-going Catholics (77%) agreed.
In recent weeks, the Pope has taken positions in favor of Palestine statehood, diplomatic relations with Cuba and fighting climate change. Americans support the Pope taking the positions he did. But, it should be noted, the positions Pope Francis is taking matches those already held by many Americans.
For example, the Pope took direct action towards Cuba, writing both President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro last year urging them to resolve their differences. A majority of Americans approve of Pope Francis taking action to urge the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States. That normalization is something the public overwhelmingly supports.
Americans Catholics are just about as likely as the nation as a whole to support diplomatic relations with Cuba, and they also express support for the Pope taking action on this.
Last week, the Vatican announced that it would sign a treaty with the “state of Palestine.” That is thought to be the first time the Vatican officially has recognized a Palestinian state. Americans have narrowly favored the establishment of a Palestinian state Economist/YouGov polls as well as in other polls. But many (more than a third in this week’s poll) express no opinion about the prospect. However, there is more support for the Pope’s action in recognizing Palestine.
A majority of Catholics approve of the Pope’s actions; they are somewhat more supportive than the public overall of recognition, though nearly a third are undecided.
In recent years, most Americans are willing to believe that climate change is occurring and is related to human activity. In this week’s poll, 55% think that’s true. So the Pope’s asking world leaders to take action (and the expectation of a Papal encyclical on climate change this summer) meets with strong approval from the public. Nearly two-thirds approve of Pope Francis asking world leaders to work to stop climate change.
Nearly two in three Americans, Catholic as well as non-Catholic, agree that developed countries have a greater responsibility to control greenhouse cases than less developed countries do.
Pope Francis has been popular since his election to the Papacy two years ago, and that continues to be true. 61% of the public (and 79% of Catholics) have a favorable opinion of him. There are only small pockets of disapproval in both the country overall and among Catholics.
Republicans (22%) are, however, more likely than Democrats (11%) and independents (14%) to have unfavorable views of the Pope.
There are dissenting voices when it comes to the Pope and his recent actions. Republicans are much less likely to support all of these three policies (relations with Cuba, a separate Palestinian state, and belief in a human role in climate change). While most Republicans admire the Pape in general, they are much less sure about his taking a role internationally. One in three Republicans believe Pope Francis should stay out of world affairs, and only 49% think he should take an active role, 13 points lower than among the public as a whole.
And on the specific actions Pope Francis and the Vatican have taken, Republicans are more closely divided than the public overall. They narrowly approve of the Pope taking action on Cuba, but are closely divided on the Vatican’s actions towards recognition of a Palestinian state and on climate change.
On each of those policies, the Pope has taken a position at odds with that of most Republicans. Republicans are evenly divided when it comes to establishing normal relations with Cuba, oppose the creation of a separate Palestinian state, and don’t think climate change has been cause by human activity (a majority of Republicans agree that climate change is occurring, but most say it is not because of human actions).
Economist/YouGov poll archives can be found here.
