By A Pew Research Center report examined how U.S. religious groups view President Donald Trump, including his plans and policies and his ethics.
A Pew Research Center report found that Catholics’ support for President Donald Trump’s agenda has not changed significantly over the past year.
The analysis examined how U.S. religious groups view Trump, including his plans and policies and his ethics. It focused on Protestants, Catholics, and religiously unaffiliated adults.
The report, “White Evangelicals Remain Among Trump’s Strongest Supporters, but They’re Less Supportive Than a Year Ago,” includes information from a survey of 8,512 U.S. adults who are part of the center’s American Trends Panel (ATP).
The survey was conducted Jan. 20–26 and has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.
The report found only a slight change from February 2025 to January 2026 in the number of Catholic participants who said they support all or most of Trump’s plans and policies.
In 2025, 51% of white Catholics reported supporting all or most of Trump’s plans and policies, compared with 46% in 2026. The decrease was less among Hispanic Catholics, which was 20% in 2025 and 18% in 2026. Overall, there was an 8-percentage-point decrease in all U.S. adults surveyed, dropping from 35% to 27%.
The survey also found that confidence in Trump’s ethics has declined in several religious groups, including among Catholics. In 2025, 39% of white Catholics reported they were extremely or very confident that Trump acts ethically in office. In January 2026, this number dropped to 34%. Hispanic Catholics also experienced a slight decrease from 22% to 14%.
According to the report, Trump approval is down among most religious groups compared with a year ago. Among white Catholics, there was a decrease from 59% to 52% who reported they approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president. The number of Hispanic Catholics who approved decreased from 31% to 23%.
Other findings
One year into Trump’s second term, white evangelical Protestants remain among the president’s strongest supporters. They are the only large religious group that was found to have a clear majority approve Trump’s job performance (69%). Roughly half of white Catholics (52%) and white Protestants who are not evangelical (46%) also approve of the way Trump is handling his job.
White evangelicals’ views of Trump were found to be less positive than they were in the early days of his second term. There has been an 8-percentage-point decrease since 2025 in the number of white evangelicals who support all or most of Trump’s plans and policies. There has also been a 15-point drop in the share who are confident Trump acts ethically in office.
Trump’s approval rating among white evangelicals is also down compared with early 2025. It was 78% in 2025 and fell to 69% in 2026.
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And I would venture to guess that Catholic support of USCCB bishops continues to fall. And, this aversion to listening to just about anything that comes from the mouths of USCCB bishops does not only apply to their forays into politics, economics and so-called social justice matters but also to what they have to say on ecclesial and magisterial matters.
Many Catholics look at our bishops and see men who remained silent in the face of the sexual abuse of pubescent young men by priests, bishops and even cardinals like McCarrick. Apologies to victims by our hierarchy is their cynical way of trying to sweep the issue aside.
I ask just one question: “How many of our priests and bishops knew about McCarrick and so many others and said NOTHING?” Simply put, many Catholics don’t trust the bishops.
I’ll cite one recent event and let the reader decide for him or herself. I watched the inauguration of the new archbishop of New York. You’d swear that it was the coronation of a king. On parade (sorry, I meant “procession”) there must have been 50 bishops who flew in from all over the country. Does it take 50 bishops to install an already-consecrated bishop? These bishops must have spent at least $2,000 each for transportation, lodging and meals (rememberthis is New York). Some, I’m certain, also brought their priest-secretary with them. Conservatively, that would amount to well over $100,000 for this grand affair. Let’s remember that no bishop earns a living in the marketplace and his salary is paid for by Joe and Mary Pewsitter. You can also be assured that these bishops did not pay for this grand fete out of their salary. Oh, no, it was a diocesan expense. Would the bishops have restored some credibility in the episcopacy if they took this $100,000 and gave financial support to the immigrants they claim to love so much. I say: Stop the hypocrisy.