Nearly 70% of Americans agree that core democratic freedoms are in danger of being lost while 59% consider President Donald Trump to be a “dangerous dictator” whose powers should be limited, according to a new survey by Public Religion Research Institute.
Most Democrats (86%) and independents (70%) agree that democratic freedoms are threatened compared to 51% of Republicans who agree those rights are imperiled, PRRI reported in “Competing Visions of America at 250: Politics, Religion and American Identity.”
The research group interviewed a representative sample of more than 5,000 adults May 1-8. “Specifically, this report explores favorability toward political and religious leaders and movements, including President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV, as well as Trump’s handling of immigration and the war in Iran,” the report explains.
Significant majorities across faith groups also agree with the survey statement that “we are in real danger of losing important democratic rights and freedoms we have in this country,” including 80% of Black Protestants, 78% among members of non-Christian religions, 76% of religiously unaffiliated Americans and 69% of Hispanic Catholics.
In fact, researchers found majorities in every religious group that believe democratic rights are threatened, including Latter-day Saints (67%), white Mainline Protestants (65%) and members of the Jewish faith (61%). “Even white evangelical Protestants — the least likely religious group to agree — still lean toward concern about losing such rights as opposed to believing their rights will be protected by a notable margin (59% vs. 39%).”
However, white evangelicals, who strongly supported Trump in both his presidential victories, express more predicable attitudes when asked if he is possibly a “dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before destroys American democracy.”
Just 30% of white evangelicals agree with the dictator statement versus 68% who disagree. Other groups with minorities who consider Trump to be a dictator are Latter-day Saints (43%) and white Catholics (49%).
Black Protestants (80%), the religiously unaffiliated (75%) and non-Christian religions (75%) are the largest majorities in agreement with the dictator statement. The groups with the smallest majorities include 56% of Jewish people and 50% of white Mainline Protestants.
Trump’s favorability rating plummeted from 41% prior to the 2024 presidential election to a current share of 34%, leaving 62% of Americans who now view the president unfavorably.
“While 79% of Republicans continue to hold favorable views of Trump, compared with 25% of independents and 5% of Democrats, favorability has declined among Republicans and independents since September 2024 (from 84% and 37%, respectively),” researchers explained. “Favorability remains high and stable among strong Republicans (91%), but has declined among less committed Republicans, falling from 70% to 63% among ‘not very strong Republicans’ and from 65% to 48% among ‘Republican leaners.’”
As expected, white evangelicals lead all religious groups with “somewhat favorable views” of the president, at 67%. They are followed by white Mainline Protestants at 48%, white Catholics at 46% and Latter-day Saints at 44%. Black Protestants and members of non-Christian religions are least likely to agree, with only 13% in each group expressing favorable opinions about the president.
“Pope Leo XIV is viewed more favorably than Trump by most Americans, except for Republicans and conservative white Christians,” the report adds, with 56% of respondents holding “somewhat favorable” attitudes toward the pontiff, compared to 34% for Trump.
Religious groups with the most positive views of Leo include white Catholics (75%), Jewish people (66%) and Hispanic Catholics (64%) and white Mainline Protestants (61%). Much smaller shares of Hispanic Protestants (35%) and white evangelicals (41%) share that opinion, PRRI found.
Researchers found 74% of Americans hold unfavorable views about Trump’s handling of the Iran war, including 95% of Democrats and 74% of independents. Black Protestants (85%), members of non-Christian religions (80%) and religiously unaffiliated Americans have the largest majorities with unfavorable views about the war.
White evangelicals have the most favorable views of Trump’s handling of the war at 59%, followed by white Catholics with 40%, and white Mainliners and Latter-day Saints each with 39%.
The president didn’t fare much better when survey respondents were asked about Trump’s handling of immigration, with only 37% of Americans expressing favorable views compared to 58% who view the president negatively. Favorable views on the issue declined among Republicans (from 90% to 82%), Democrats (from 13% to 6%) and independents (from 48% to 31%) since March 2025.
Again, white evangelical Protestants are outliers among all other Americans in supporting Trump’s handling of immigration. Nearly three-fourths (72%) support Trump’s immigration policies. The second-most-supportive groups are white Catholics (54%), Latter-day Saints (52%) and white Mainline Protestants (51%).