pope francis’s approval rating among Americans has sunk just two months ahead of his first trip to the United States. A Gallup survey claimed his popularity is down by 17 per cent from 76 per cent in February 2014.
The study was conducted on July 8-12, three weeks after Francis released his encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’. It is thought that the decline might partially be driven by the Pope’s denouncing of “the idolatry of money”.
What the media are saying?
the british media stayed relatively calm and positive about the findings, with the Independent keen to remind readers that the number of those who actively disapproved of Pope Francis remains low. The Guardian inferred that the decline from such a high-level of popularity was not surprising given the difficulty of sustaining those numbers.
In contrast, the American media reaction appeared quite pessimistic, with some commentators suggesting that the Pope’s forthcoming visit could cause his approval rating to drop further owing to the sceptical crowds that he will face. The US media have been using words such as ‘‘plummet’’, ‘‘slump’’ and ‘‘plunge’’ to describe what is, in reality, just a ‘‘dip’’ in popularity.
What Catholics are saying?
fr john zuhlsdorf attributed these findings not only to Laudato Si’ but also to the loss of support from liberal Americans. He said: “One possible excuse will be that Francis hasn’t been as prominent in the media as
he was in 2013, so these numbers are superficial.”
Another perspective is that the more that the media give airtime to politicians such as Jeb Bush and Rick Santorum, who have been critical of Pope Francis, the more influence they have on Catholic public opinion in the US.
The consensus is that not much can be made of these statistics until the Pope’s US visit in September. The Vaticanisti believe that his approval rating will dramatically rise once he makes his first visit.
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