Americans are 'extremely uncomfortable' with how Trump uses religion

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s unexpected confrontation with the Pope, a new poll reveals how Americans feel about the Commander-in-Chief’s statements regarding religion — and they don’t like it.

According to polling by the Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos, a whopping 87 percent of Americans have a negative view of Trump’s social media post bearing an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus. At the same time, 69 percent say they dislike Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s prayer for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

This appears to be one of the few issues where Americans are firmly in agreement. While there is typically a stark political divide, 79 percent of Republicans and 80 percent of Trump’s 2024 voters disapproved of his Jesus post, with more than 40 percent of both groups disapproving of Hegseth’s prayer.

As Kimberly Chopin, a 57-year-old Catholic who voted for Trump, explained, “There is only one Jesus. I found the posts to be inappropriate and offensive. Humility is at the core of being Jesus.” She also noted that Hegseth’s comments made her “extremely uncomfortable. That kind of language sounds like the language of al-Qaeda.”

Trump has spent a decade portraying himself as a “champion of the deeply religious,” and garnered “broad support from White Christians, some of whom compare him with biblical heroes.” While his backing remains strong among this group, Trump’s recent battles with religious leaders have complicated that support.

According to the Washington Post, “While 9 in 10 white evangelical Protestants — the most pro-Trump religious bloc of Americans — have a negative view of Trump posting the Jesus-like image, the vast majority of that group — about 7 out of 10 — still approved of Trump’s overall performance as president. That is a drop of 10 percentage points from his approval rating among White evangelicals in a poll in February 2025… Trump won the white Catholic vote by a more than 20-point margin in the 2024 presidential election. But his approval rating with that group is down in the new poll, at 49 percent, compared with 63 percent in February 2025. His approval rate stands at 38 percent for all Catholics, a 10-point drop since then.”

The poll also looked at how Americans view the Pope, whose criticism of American military and deportation efforts prompted Trump to lash out repeatedly. This has not only pushed the Pope to become more persistent with his critiques of the Trump administration, but has drawn the Pontiff broad support from Americans. “In the poll, 2 of 3 Americans react positively to Leo asking Americans to contact Congress to work for peace and reject war. Nearly 6 in 10 have a negative reaction to Trump’s false claim about the pope saying ‘it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.’”

Chopin once again expressed how many of her faith are feeling, saying, “Catholics make up the largest Christian denomination in the country, why wouldn’t you at least want to engage in a positive way? Here’s the leader of the Catholic church, a respected one and the first American! I just felt there should be discussion.” In the end, she said that Trump’s criticisms of the Pope, “left a bad taste in my mouth.”