Poll finds broad rejection of religion-related messages from Trump, Hegseth

Americans are deeply uncomfortable with recent religion-related statements by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — a striking rebuke in a closely divided country, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll.

The poll finds positive ratings for Pope Leo XIV, who has criticized U.S. actions on immigration and in Iran, clashing with Trump.

Eighty-seven percent of Americans have a negative view of Trump’s social media post appearing to depict himself as Jesus, according to the poll. Sixty-nine percent dislike Hegseth praying at the Pentagon for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

Both expressions drew criticism even from Republicans and Trump voters, unusual at a time of deep political tribalism. Eighty percent of 2024 Trump voters had a negative reaction to Trump’s Jesus post, as did 79% of Republicans. On Hegseth’s prayer, more than 40% of both groups reacted negatively.

“There is only one Jesus! I found the posts to be inappropriate and offensive. Humility is at the core of being Jesus.” said Kimberly Chopin, a 57-year-old Catholic who lives in a suburb of Baton Rouge and voted for Trump. She added that Hegseth’s prayer calling for violence made her “extremely uncomfortable. That kind of language sounds like the language of al-Qaeda.”

Trump deleted the AI-generated image of himself as Jesus after widespread backlash, including allegations of blasphemy from the religious right.

For more than a decade, Trump has presented himself as a champion of the deeply religious. He has been rewarded with broad support from white Christians, some of whom compare him with biblical heroes. The new poll shows a decline in their approval, however, as Trump’s administration faces criticism from not only the pope but multiple high-ranking U.S. Catholic clerics, as well as leaders of other conservative faiths, for aspects of his immigration crackdown and the war in Iran.

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 has said publicly that he was responsible for putting the image on social media, and that he thought it depicted him as akin to a doctor or Red Cross workers. Despite the president’s statement, Kristine Rooff, an evangelical Protestant who voted for Trump, said she doesn’t believe he posted the image.

“He’s a strong man. He stands up for what he believes in and he believes in protecting America,” said Rooff, 67, who lives in Missouri and retired last year from a job working for the state with the disabled. “I don’t think of him as a champion for Christians, but to me he has good values.”

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%, compared with 63% in February 2025. His approval rate stands at 38% for all Catholics, a 10-point drop since then.

Among the public overall, Trump’s approval rating has dropped from 45% in February 2025 to 37%. Americans seem to feel more warmly toward Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, who succeeded Pope Francis last year.

In recent months, Leo and some of his surrogates in the U.S. have expressed criticism and disapproval of some U.S. military and immigration-enforcement actions. In response, Trump has lashed out at the pope.

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.”

Trump’s criticism of Leo, said Chopin, “left a bad taste in my mouth.”

“Catholics make up the largest Christian denomination in the country, why wouldn’t you at least want to engage in a positive way?" she said. “Here’s the leader of the Catholic church, a respected one and the first American! I just felt there should be discussion.”

Rooff, who said she had “strongly negative” views of Leo, repeated Trump’s false claim that the pontiff said Iran should be able to have nuclear weapons. She also disapproves of Leo’s welcoming comments about LGBTQ+ people.

“I have no problem with their community but you if go by the Bible, religious leaders accepting them as though they’re going to heaven, as though it’s all peaches and roses, and it’s not,” she said.

Among Americans who are familiar with him, Leo has a positive image — 41% are favorable compared with 16% who are unfavorable. A sizable 43% of Americans are still unfamiliar with the pontiff, however.

Leo is popular among American Catholics, including Catholic Republicans and Trump voters, the poll found, and overwhelmingly popular among Democrats and those who voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024.

Cindy Luna, 28, a Nevada Republican who voted for Trump, said the president’s social media post and Hegseth’s prayer are typical of the reasons she in recent years has felt more skepticism for politics in general as well as the Republican Party.

“He can disagree with the pope, that’s fine, but he doesn’t understand who the pope is,” said Luna, who is a Hispanic Catholic and stay-at-home parent. She said that as someone who sees herself as consistently “pro-life” she respects Leo for his stances against the war and on helping the disenfranchised, including migrants.

“He is not a politician, so he’ll call a spade a spade,” Luna said. “He’s going to disagree when it goes against our teaching and call it out.”

The Jesus image, added onto to other controversial Trump posts, “have made me realize politicians are just human and they are tempted by other vices as well,” Luna said.

The Post-ABC-Ipsos poll also asked about a post by Trump made while his administration was in negotiations with Iran. The post, which said “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” seemed to suggest the use of nuclear weapons. It triggered extensive public debate, including from moral theologians and philosophers who study ethics and war.

Seventy-six percent of Americans reacted negatively to that post, including 53 who did so “strongly.”

Read detailed results of the Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll. The poll was conducted online April 24-28 among 2,560 U.S. adults nationwide reached through the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, an ongoing panel of U.S. households recruited by mail using random sampling methods. Overall results have a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. The sample was weighted to match population demographics, 2024 turnout/vote choice and political partisanship.