A large majority of Americans are not convinced by President Biden’s presentation of himself as a “devout Catholic,” according to a new poll from Pew Research.
The poll, conducted in late February, found that just 13% of Americans think of Biden as “very religious,” while 41% say he is “somewhat religious” and another 44% say he is “not at all” or “not too religious.”
The polling comes despite Biden’s own description of himself as a “devout Catholic” who attends church regularly. The White House has also used the term to describe Biden when defending his aggressive pro-choice stance on abortion.
Biden has had a fractious relationship with the Catholic Church since gaining office, with Pope Francis criticizing his views on abortion in July 2021. Francis argued that Biden’s faith and pro-choice views were a display of “incoherence.”
The pair met in person later that year, however, and Biden says Francis encouraged him to continue receiving Communion.
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Former President Trump has sought to capitalize on the friction between Biden’s faith and his stance on abortion, telling a campaign crowd on Saturday that Catholics would be “crazy” to vote for him.
While Trump himself has paid lip service to Protestant and Catholic Americans, he has not suggested that he is a man of devout faith himself. That reflects Pew’s findings in the February poll.
Just 4% of Americans said they believed Trump is “very religious,” while 25% said he is “somewhat religious.” Meanwhile, 68% of Americans said Trump is “not too religious” or “not at all religious.”
