April 22, 2026, 7:46 p.m. ET
Fewer U.S. adults consider President Donald Trump to be very religious – or religious at all.
This finding, outlined in a recent Pew Research Center survey, captures public opinion just prior to the president criticizing Pope Leo XIV, calling him “weak” on crime, and posting an illustration of himself looking like a Christ figure.
Seven in 10 U.S. adults (70%) said Trump is not too or not at all religious, according to the survey, conducted April 6-12. That’s higher than the 62% from Pew’s last survey in October 2024.
About one-fourth (24%) said the president is somewhat religious – down from 31% previously – while 5% said Trump is very religious, down from 6% previously, the survey found.
Who’s more likely to think President Trump is religious or not?
Democrats and Independents who leaned Democratic were much more likely to have said Trump is not too religious or not at all religious (89%) than were Republicans and Republican leaners (49%).
Republicans were also more likely to have said Trump is somewhat religious (42%) than Democrats were (8%). White evangelical Protestants, who typically lean Republican, Pew notes, were also more likely than other religious groups to view Trump as somewhat religious (44%).
Very few people surveyed said they considered Trump to be very religious. Among Republicans, 8% said they did, while 5% of White evangelicals said so.
Among religious groups, Hispanic Catholics had the largest opinion shift from Pew’s previous survey, with 80% saying Trump is not too or not at all religious, up from 60% in the previous survey.
Hispanic Catholics were also the religious group to have the biggest opinion shift as to whether Trump stands up a little or not at all for their religious beliefs. More than half (55%) said he stands up a little or not at all for their religious beliefs, up from 40% in February 2024.
Among all U.S. adults, 47% said Trump stands up a little or not at all for their personal religious beliefs, the survey found. More than one-fifth (22%) said Trump stands up a great deal or quite a bit for people with religious beliefs similar to their own. Another 14% say he stands up “some” for their religious beliefs, the survey found.
What does it mean to be religious? There are ‘different ideas’
There were differing opinions about the president and religion when Pew Research Center associate Chip Rotolo, who authored Pew’s summary of the research, posted a video about the findings on Instagram, with one commenter saying, “I don’t think he (Trump) is religious at all.”
Another offered that Trump may be “more religious than anyone,” adding that, “Religion has always been used as an excuse for war, domination, and superiority complexes. Anyone who supports him still likely views him as messianic, no?”
That led Rotolo to respond with a comment noting how “people have many different ideas about what it means to be religious. This question leaves that open to people’s own evaluation. … We (are) simply trying to accurately capture the public’s views and how that has changed over time.”
Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider & msnider@usatoday.com.
