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By Andrew Stanton
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More Americans are siding with Pope Leo XIV than President Donald Trump in their feud over the Iran war, according to a new YouGov poll.
The poll released Tuesday reveals Americans’ sentiment about the feud—a rare public dispute between a U.S. president and the leader of the Catholic Church—which carries political risk for Trump, particularly among Catholic voters, ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email.
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Pope Leo XIV Backed by Americans in New Poll: What to Know
The YouGov poll, which surveyed 1,707 adults from April 17-20, 2026, asked respondents, “President Trump and Vice-President Vance have criticized Pope Leo for comments he has made about the war in Iran. Who do you agree with more about the war in Iran?”
Forty-eight percent said they agree more with Pope Leo, while 28 percent said they agree with Trump and JD Vance, according to the poll. An additional 24 percent said they were not sure which side they fell on.
Among independents, a crucial voting bloc in the midterms, 50 percent sided with Pope Leo, while 15 percent sided with Trump and Vance, the poll found.
It also found that 48 percent of Americans approve of what Pope Leo has been saying about the war in Iran, while just 24 percent disapprove of his messages. Thirty-one percent said they believe the pope has “gotten too involved in politics,” while 44 percent said they do not believe he has done so.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle responded to the poll in a statement to Newsweek.
"What matters most to the American people is having a Commander-in-Chief who takes decisive action to eliminate threats and keep them safe, which is exactly what President Trump did with the successful Operation Epic Fury. President Trump campaigned proudly on his promise to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, which is what this noble operation accomplishes. The President does not make these incredibly important national security decisions based on fluid opinion polls, but on the best interest of the American people," he wrote.
Pope Leo XIV vs. Donald Trump Favorability Compared
The poll also compared Pope Leo's and Trump’s approval ratings. Pope Leo held a +31-point approval rating, with 55 percent viewing him positively and 24 percent negatively. That compares to Trump’s -16 point approval rating in the YouGov survey; 56 percent viewed him unfavorably, while 40 percent said they viewed him favorably.
Other polls have yielded similar results.
An NBC News poll found that 41 percent of Americans view Trump favorably, compared to 53 percent who view him unfavorably. Meanwhile, 42 percent of Americans view Pope Leo positively, while only 8 percent view him negatively.
The poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters from February 27-March 3, 2026, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
What Rift Between Trump and Pope Means for Politics, Midterms—Analysts Weigh In
The rift is the latest episode in a broader trend of Americans’ political identity becoming as important as their religious identity, David Hopkins, a Boston College political scientist, told Newsweek. In recent years, Americans increasingly choose their political beliefs over religious beliefs when the two come into conflict, he said.
“If the Catholic Church is seen as siding with liberalism on issues of war and peace, on issues of social opportunity economic equality and that sort of thing, that would have the effect we might have in making conservative Catholics less loyal to the Catholic Church and maybe even to consider leaving the Catholic Church,” Hopkins said.
Republicans may be concerned about the impact of the rift on their polling with Catholic and Hispanic Americans, but this is unlikely to be a deciding factor for most Americans, he said.
The outcome of the war itself will be more important for Republicans in November, he said.
Peter Loge, political scientist at George Washington University, told Newsweek attacking the pope is “almost never a good political move,” noting that about one-quarter of the electorate is Catholic.
“Many Catholics embrace teachings of faith and charity, and are appalled by the President's cruelty. Other Catholics look beyond the President's vanity, lust, greed, and cruelty because he has at least for the moment taken policy positions with which they agree. But attacking the Pope, on top of everything else, might be a step too far,” he said.
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Gary Rose, Sacred Heart University professor of political science, told Newsweek the rift is unlikely to “cause major defections among white Catholic voters in the forthcoming mid-term elections.”
“I don't foresee serious consequences. For most Catholics, particularly white Catholics, the positions embraced by Trump are more in line with their values than the positions articulated by Pope Leo XIV e.g. border security, crime prevention and a nuclear armed Iran. They may not like Trump's disparaging words about the Pope, but white Catholics will not abandon the Republicans in the 2026 mid-term election,” he said.
The disagreement between Trump and Pope Leo is “relatively minor,” Darren Davis, University of Notre Dame political scientist, told Newsweek.
“Of all the possible issues that have traditionally influenced midterm elections, such as foreign events (like the Iran War) and the national economy, President Trump's disagreement with Pope Leo is not very significant. And, given that the midterms are over 6 months away, voters will most likely not remember this issue,” he said.
What Pope Leo XIV and Donald Trump Have Said Amid Feud
Pope Leo has been critical of the Iran war and the "delusion of omnipotence" that caused it, saying this had led to "absurd and inhuman violence." He also spoke out against Trump’s remarks that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran failed to meet a U.S. deadline tied to the Iran war earlier in April.
“Today, as we all know, there was this threat against all the people of Iran,” the pope said. “This is truly unacceptable.”
He had called for a ceasefire in the conflict.
“On behalf of the Christians of the Middle East and all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict. Cease fire so that avenues for dialogue may be reopened. Violence can never lead to the justice, stability, and peace that the people are waiting for,” Pope Leo said in March.
Trump described the pope on Truth Social last week as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” He wrote that he prefers the pope’s brother Louis, because he is “all MAGA” and that Pope Leo should be “thankful” and that he was “only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.”
Pope Leo responded in comments to the Associated Press aboard the papal plane.
“To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is,” he said. "And I’m sorry to hear that but I will continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.”
According to The New York Times, the pope said he has “no fear of the Trump administration.”
On Sunday night, Trump posted, and later deleted, an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus Christ that drew swift, bipartisan backlash. The president said he believed the image depicted him as a doctor.
Trump’s comments have also drawn backlash from Catholic leaders.
“The statements made by President Trump on Truth Social regarding the Pope were entirely inappropriate and disrespectful,” Bishop Robert Barron wrote on social media, adding, “I think the President owes the Pope an apology.”
Pope Leo's Latest Warning on War
Pope Leo issued a general warning about armed conflicts in a post to X on Tuesday. The post was not about Trump specifically but reveals the leader’s views on war.
“Even more than in the past, it is clear today that the proliferation of armed conflicts is often driven by the exploitation of oil and mineral deposits, with no regard for international law or the self-determination of peoples,” he wrote.
He warned that humanity’s destiny could be “tragically compromised” without “change of direction in the assumption of political responsibility, and without respect for institutions and international agreements.”
God’s name, he wrote, should never be invoked “to justify death-dealing choices and actions.”
Was Pope Leo a Republican?
Records previously reported by The New York Times showed that Pope Leo, a Chicago native whose birth name is Robert Prevost, has voted in 10 general elections since 2000, including the 2024 presidential race. He selected Democratic primary ballots in 2008 and 2010 but voted in Republican primaries in 2012 and 2016.
However, he has not commented on whom he voted for in elections or which party he supported before becoming the leader of the Catholic Church.
Update 4/21/26, 4:56 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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