63% of U.S. Catholics View Pope Benedict XVI Favorably
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Most American Catholics have a favorable opinion of Pope Benedict XVI, and less than half think he shares the views and values of the majority of Catholics in this country.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 63% of U.S. Catholics share at least a somewhat favorable opinion of the pope who announced Monday that he is stepping down as the leader of the Catholic Church worldwide. Only 21% of Catholics in this country view him unfavorably. This includes 33% with a Very Favorable opinion and four percent (4%) with a Very Unfavorable one. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure what they think of the man who has led their church since 2005. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
The survey of 1,000 American Adults was conducted on February 11-12, 2013 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.