A poll has shown growing disenchantment with Pope Francis in the Unites States, especially among political conservatives. A survey by Pew Research Forum found that fewer conservatives approved of Francis than was the case three years ago, though his overall popularity was still high. Among Republican and Republican-leaning Catholics, 55 per cent said the Pope was “too liberal”, a jump from 23 per cent in 2015. A third, meanwhile, said he was “naive”, up from 15 per cent three years ago. Greg Smith, a Pew senior researcher, said it was the first time Catholics had been so sharply divided along political lines in their view of the Pope. The polling questions go back to the early 1980s. “In our polling [among Catholics] about John Paul II and Benedict XVI, when we look at them we don’t see any falloff over time,” he told Catholic News Service. “What’s interesting about this survey that this is the first one where this political polarisation among American Catholics really stands out.” In 2014 nearly the same proportion of Catholic Republicans expressed a favourable view of the Pope as Catholic Democrats (90 per cent versus 87 per cent). “Today, by contrast,” the survey said, “the Pope’s favourability rating is 10 points higher among Catholic Democrats (89 per cent) than among Catholic Republicans (79 per cent).” The share of Republican-leaning Catholics who said Pope Francis represented a major positive change dropped from 60 per cent to 37 per cent, while among Democrat Catholics the share fell much less – down five points to 71 per cent. Among all Catholics, 45 per cent rated the Pope’s handling of the abuse crisis as good or excellent, down from 55 per cent. Among American adults overall, Pope Francis is viewed more favourably than Benedict XVI but less so than St John Paul II in the first decade of his pontificate. The all-time high was in 1990. Benedict XVI’s ratings started off low but went up sharply following his US visit in 2008.