As President Donald Trump marked the 100th day of his second term in the White House this week, the country reflected on the political turbulence of the past three months and the economic uncertainty that lies ahead.
Several polls fielded in April found that Trump remains a polarizing figure, including in red states and in major Christian groups.
A Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics survey conducted in mid-April by HarrisX showed that the share of registered voters in Utah who strongly approve of Trump’s job performance (30%) is the same as the share who strongly disapprove (30%).
A new poll from Pew Research Center highlighted a similar divide among U.S. Christians.
For example, the survey showed that Protestant Christians in the U.S. can be nearly equally divided by their approval ratings for Trump, with 48% saying they disapprove of the way he’s handling his job as president and 50% saying they approve.
U.S. Catholics lean more toward disapproval.
Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) of members of this faith group are unhappy with Trump’s work so far, while 42% of Catholics approve.
In addition to asking about Trump’s performance, Pew asked about the ethics of his administration.
The survey found that just 37% of U.S. adults rate the administration’s ethical standards as either excellent (16%) or good (21%).
Among religious respondents, white evangelical Protestants stand out for their belief that the Trump administration is guided by strong ethical principles.
“Around seven-in-ten White evangelicals rate the ethics of top Trump administration officials as good (35%) or excellent (34%),” Pew reported.
Among mainline Protestants and Catholics, those who rate the administration’s ethics as fair or poor outnumber those who gave a more positive assessment.
That’s even more true if you zoom in on nonwhite Protestants and Catholics, Pew found.
Just 9% of Black Protestants and 25% of Hispanic Catholics rate the ethics of the Trump administration as excellent or good.
Pew’s survey was fielded April 7-13 among 3,589 U.S. adults. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.