--- description: A Pew Research Center survey says that Catholics haven't really changed their opinion of the Church since the Pontiff's visit, though. title: Catholic Church's Popularity Surges Among Democrats Following Pope Francis' Visit image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb559d46d14975b4a/698866c9e20a8728eaa8d9a8/obama-pope-francis.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [faith](/tag/faith/) ## faith Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Catholic Church's Popularity Surges Among Democrats Following Pope Francis' Visit  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 7, 2015 9:30 PM CUT  Barack Obama walks with Pope Francis down the West Wing Colonnade to a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Sept. 23, 2015. Barack Obama walks with Pope Francis down the West Wing Colonnade to a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Sept. 23, 2015.Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 7, 2015 9:30 PM CUT Pope Francis’ American visit has earned him some new fans among some very unlikely groups of people, including liberals and non-Catholics, according to a [Pew Research Center survey](http://www.pewforum.org/2015/10/07/following-visit-two-thirds-in-u-s-view-pope-francis-favorably/ "undefined") of 1,000 adults released on Wednesday. In the week immediately after Pope Francis’ visit to the United States, 28% of American adults report a more positive view of the Church, with just 6% saying they had more negative views. Fifty percent of Catholics also had a more positive view of the Catholic Church following the visit, and 22% of non-Catholics said the same. Those who identified as liberals or Democrats also respected the Church more after the Pope’s visit, with 39% and 35% respectively expressing admiration after the visit. In fact, the Pope is more popular among Democrats than Republicans and conservatives. But but while the Church has made measurable progress among many following the pope’s tour, most Americans’ opinions remained unchanged: 58% of Americans said Pope Francis’ visit did not affect their feelings about the Church. But while Francis’ visit may helped have won over many outside the faith, the pope’s overall approval ratings among Catholics—at 81% as of this month—are actually equivalent to Pope Benedict’s ratings after his visit to America in April 2008, according to Pew. The data suggests that simply being exposed to the Pope domestically might increase approval ratings among non-Catholics, but Catholics themselves may be harder to persuade. Francis has actually seen a dip in popularity this year among fellow Catholics; down from a peak of 90% approval in February, and 86% approval in June. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4065186/pope-francis-liberal-democrat-approval/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4065186/pope-francis-liberal-democrat-approval/"},"headline":"Catholic Church's Popularity Surges Among Democrats Following Pope Francis' Visit","datePublished":"2015-10-07T21:30:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:35:57.094Z","description":"50% of Catholics also had a more positive opinion of the Church","url":"https://time.com/4065186/pope-francis-liberal-democrat-approval/","keywords":["faith","democrats","republicans","Pope Francis topic","Catholics","Catholic Church","Conservatives","catholicism","Pope Benedict XVI"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb559d46d14975b4a/698866c9e20a8728eaa8d9a8/obama-pope-francis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb559d46d14975b4a/698866c9e20a8728eaa8d9a8/obama-pope-francis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VATICAN-RELIGION-POPE","caption":"US-VATICAN-RELIGION-POPE","creditText":"Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/faith/","name":"faith"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4065186/pope-francis-liberal-democrat-approval/","name":"Catholic Church's Popularity Surges Among Democrats Following Pope Francis' Visit"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Highlights From Pope Francis's Address to the U.N.","description":"Highlights From Pope Francis's Address to the U.N.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/cJjrgoGa/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-25T17:48:52.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cJjrgoGa.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4065186/pope-francis-liberal-democrat-approval/","duration":"PT3M10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4065186/pope-francis-liberal-democrat-approval/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```