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Just ahead of the conclave that will choose his successor, a quarter of American Catholics said Benedict's leadership had helped the Church, just over 10 percent said it hurt the Church, while most, 52 percent, said it had been mixed.

Those results are similar to a 2010 poll, but are less positive than views of Pope John Paul II's leadership in polls taken during his papacy by The New York Times and CBS News. In polls conducted in 2002 and 2004, more than 4 in 10 Catholics said his leadership helped the Church. Following his death in 2005, more than 6 in 10 said so.

"He just seemed kind of bland," Dorothy Lascuola, 66, a frequent churchgoer from Butler, Pa., said of Pope Benedict XVI in a follow-up interview. "I guess I try to draw a parallel with John Paul II and I really admired him and his stance on a lot of different issues. I didn't see Pope Benedict as a leader per se. I hope we have a stronger leader coming forth this time. And a younger one. I think he carried a lot of baggage."

When assessing the state of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, most Catholics were positive, though not strongly so. A majority, 54 percent, rated the way things were going as excellent or good. But that includes 50 percent who said they were good, and a mere 4 percent who said they were excellent. Ratings were no higher among weekly churchgoers.

And American Catholics were apt to see the Catholic Church in the United States as staying the course. While 17 percent said things in the Church in the United States were improving and 22 percent said they were worsening, most — 60 percent — said they were staying the same. Among those respondents who said things in the Church were staying the same, most rated the Church positively.

Three-quarters of Catholics expressed confidence that the next pontiff would be in touch with today's Catholics, but only about 3 in 10 said they had a great deal of confidence in that. In April 2005, when cardinals were choosing Pope John Paul II's successor, more than 8 in 10 were confident the cardinals would select a pope who was in touch, including nearly 4 in 10 who had a great deal of confidence in that.

The current poll found that confidence rose among the more frequent churchgoers. Among respondents who said they attended Mass at least once a week, more than 4 in 10 have a great deal of confidence that the next pope will be in touch with the needs of Catholics today.

"They always seem to pick a really conservative, traditional type pope from Europe," Felix Rando, 61, of Marrero, La., who attends church at least weekly. "I was just hoping that maybe we would get someone from Latin America or Africa. It would be a nice change."

Matt Williams, 56, from Mt. Pleasant, Mich., and also a frequent churchgoer, expressed concern about focusing on where the next pope would be from. "I wish they would choose the best man and not worry about being politically correct," he said.

The national poll was conducted Feb. 23-27 among 580 Catholic adults using landlines and cellphones and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points. More results from this poll will be released on nytimes.com after 6:30 p.m.