Poll Shows Americans Reject Trump, Hegseth Religious Messaging Strongly

Americans drew a sharp line between private faith and presidential spectacle, rejecting a pair of religion-themed messages from Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth that turned symbolism into a political liability. In a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll of 2,560 U.S. adults, 87% disapproved of Trump’s AI-generated Jesus image, while 69% disliked Hegseth’s Pentagon prayer invoking “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

The numbers suggest a deeper warning for the White House: religious language may energize some loyalists, but it can also alienate independents, religious moderates and voters who do not want faith blurred with official power. The poll, conducted April 24-28 with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, showed broad discomfort not just with the image itself but with the tone of presidential and defense messaging that framed military action in overtly theological terms.

Trump’s post deepened the backlash. The president deleted the AI-generated image after criticism and said he believed it showed him as a doctor or Red Cross worker, not as Jesus. The poll also found that 57% of Americans reacted negatively to Trump’s statement, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.” That response came as Trump renewed public attacks on Pope Leo XIV, widening a fight that has spilled from social media into diplomacy and Catholic politics.

Pope Leo himself fared better with the public. The poll gave him a 41% favorable rating, 16% unfavorable, and 43% with no opinion. Among Catholic Americans, his favorability rose to 61%. Americans also responded more warmly to the pope’s April 7 call for people to contact Congress to work for peace and reject war, with 66% expressing a positive reaction.

The contrast is politically important because it shows the administration fighting on a terrain where Trump has typically claimed advantage. Religious symbolism is not automatically a strength when it appears self-aggrandizing or coercive. In this case, the pope’s peace message landed better than Trump’s jabs at Vatican leadership, and Hegseth’s prayer language looked to many respondents less like devotion than militarized rhetoric.

The fallout also intersected with broader trouble for Trump in the same polling wave. The Washington Post’s polling page said Trump’s disapproval reached a new high and Democrats gained a five-point advantage in support for Congress. The feud with Pope Leo was unfolding as Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepared to meet the pontiff at the Vatican, adding diplomatic strain to a domestic political problem that now extends well beyond a single image or prayer.