plus, we re awaiting the pope s arrival in washington, d.c. just as the race for the white house heats up. why some say the leader of the catholic church is very much in tune with the prevailing mood in american politics, next.
about 15% from a few years ago. the same can be said of the government too though. yeah. absolutely. and it s worse for the government, obviously, than it is for the church. the church has actually held up reasonably well over the last two decades which is the period of time that i looked at. other institutions starting with congress, again just behind me, much worse. but i think we live this an era of in an era of skepticism about large institutions in general. the church has not escaped that. i think one of the things that the pope wants to do is to reestablish a kind of confidence that the church knows where it s going and that it s going in a direction that people both who are catholics and not catholics, can appreciate. but, you know, that s a slow process. but in dealing with the institutional problems in terms of confidence and support, it s similar to what political institutions have. jon: it will be fascinating to watch. again, the pope about an hour away from arriving her
in an exclusive interview, i asked her to project hypothetically if she were elected president what america s national security posture would look like by the end of her first term. it will take time to rebuild our military, but we have to be well on our way. we have to have invested in those brigades and battalions and navy ships. we have to have invested in equipping our allies whether it s the kurds or the south koreans or the japanese or the australians. so the world will know the united states is leading, we re going to stand with our allies and confront our adversaries. reporter: in an appearance on the tonight show with jimmy fallon last night, she talked about foreign policy, she sang a song, and she weighed in on the pope s visit noting how democrats appear to be cafeteria catholics when it comes to the pope embracing some of his positions, ignoring others. i don t agree with him on all of his politics, for sure. but i certainly admire how he is
defense lawyers say they do plan to appeal. jenna? jenna: jonathan, thank you. jon: well, the pope arrives in washington just a few hours from now. our next guest says the leader of the catholic church is very much in tune with the political mood here in the u.s. where we see presidential candidates shaking things up and challenging the existing order. jerry seib writes in the wall street journal, quote, pope francis is very much a man of his times, in sync with the dissatisfaction with the status quo that colors politics not just in the u.s., but across the western world. he may be tolling the trend, or following the trend, or he may be leading it. but one question about his week in the u.s. is whether he says or does things to accelerate it here. jerry seib is washington bureau chief for the wall street journal and joins us now. is this a different message than previous popes have brought to the united states? oh, i think absolutely, it s a different message not just to the u
welcome back to hardball. a new gallup poll shows that pope francis overall popularity in the u.s. has dropped markedly in the last year. today 59% overall view him favorably while in 2014 was up there at 76%. the biggest drop was with political conservatives, going from 72% down to a minority position of 45%. and with u.s. catholics, the pope s popularity dropped 18 points, going from 89% to 71%, which is still pretty good. this comes as the pope is becoming a factor in american politics. catholic presidential candidates are being forced to contend with the pontiff s policy positions on income inequality climate change. and in september, the pontiff will address a joint session of the u.s. congress here at the request of speaker john boehner himself, a roman catholic. joining me at the roundtable is clarence page of the chicago tribune, susan milligan of u.s. news and world report, and alex seitz-wald. i am roman catholic. the years of almost pick your cafeteria catholics, the cons