After Two Months of MAGA Attacks, Pope Leo XIV Outpaces Trump by 54 Points

On net favorability, the American pope runs +32 to the president’s −22 — a 54-point chasm. Even among rank-and-file Republicans, Leo XIV stays above water.

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The numbers landed this morning, and they tell a story Donald Trump did not want told.

In a new Economist/YouGov poll conducted from May 29 to June 1, 55 percent of Americans say they hold a favorable opinion of Pope Leo XIV, against 23 percent who view him unfavorably. That is a net rating of plus thirty-two in a country that agrees on almost nothing, including the color of the sky

Set those figures beside the president’s.

Trump draws a favorable opinion from just 37 percent of the same respondents, while 59 percent view him unfavorably — a net of minus twenty-two.

Put the two side by side and the pope sits fifty-four points ahead of the man in the Oval Office on net favorability, a chasm between a leader Americans trust and one most of them have written off.

This is the pope Trump has spent two months trying to tear down.

I want to walk through the breakdown, because the partisan numbers are where this gets interesting.