Catholic or not, Americans like Benedict

DallasNews Religion | Bruce Tomaso:

“Roughly three-quarters of us (73 percent) have a favorable opinion of Pope Benedict XVI, according to a new survey from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

I can't believe 10% of Americans can even name who the Pope is. If anything, they might vaguely recall a stylish clotheshorse in red Prada loafers. On further thought, never mind. I think I understand the favorable ratings now.

P.S. Mr Tomaso responds, reasonably, "I can't believe that 10 percent would know what a Prada loafer is."

So, if Americans can't identify the pope and don't remember his red Prada loafers, then to what do we credit such high approval ratings for this pope?

Digging into the poll results themselves, I see that an important qualifier was left out of the story, which says that "based on those able to rate each pope", 73% have a favorable opinion. I suspect if Pew limited responses further, to those who could even name the Pope, the sample size would have been too small to publish.