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Joe Biden, the second Catholic president in United States history, is quite public about his religion -- discussing it openly in last fall's presidential campaign and in the months since taking office, and regularly and publicly attending Catholic church services. So far, however, there is little evidence that Biden's Catholicism is resulting in unusually high approval ratings from his fellow Catholics. Segments of the American population defined by their religious identity continue to view the president through a partisan, rather than a religious, lens.
As my colleague Jeff Jones noted in a recent analysis of Gallup data collected in January, February and March of this year, Biden is receiving a 58% approval rating among Catholics. That is not significantly higher than his overall average of 56% for this time period, underscoring the conclusion that Biden isn't occupying an unusually positive position among Catholics so far.
Additional comparative analysis reinforces this finding -- that is, Biden's approval rating among Catholics is about where it would be for any Democratic president, Catholic or not.
The accompanying table shows different religious groups' approval ratings for Biden so far this year, as well as for Donald Trump during his last full calendar year in office (2020) and for Barack Obama during his last full year in office (2016).
Continued below.
Few Signs of a Catholic 'Bump' for Biden
As my colleague Jeff Jones noted in a recent analysis of Gallup data collected in January, February and March of this year, Biden is receiving a 58% approval rating among Catholics. That is not significantly higher than his overall average of 56% for this time period, underscoring the conclusion that Biden isn't occupying an unusually positive position among Catholics so far.
Additional comparative analysis reinforces this finding -- that is, Biden's approval rating among Catholics is about where it would be for any Democratic president, Catholic or not.
The accompanying table shows different religious groups' approval ratings for Biden so far this year, as well as for Donald Trump during his last full calendar year in office (2020) and for Barack Obama during his last full year in office (2016).
Continued below.
Few Signs of a Catholic 'Bump' for Biden
