Unfavorable Views Of China At New High In Pew Survey Of Americans

Unfavorable views of China held by Americans are at a new high, according to poll released today by the Pew Research Center.

Some 82% of those surveyed have an unfavorable opinion of China, including 40% who have very unfavorable views of the country. That compares with 76% with an unfavorable view a year ago and is the highest since at least 2005 (see Pew announcement here).

Amid Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, Americans are concerned about the partnership between China and Russia, Pew found. Around nine-in-ten U.S. adults say it’s at least a somewhat serious problem for the United States, and a 62% majority say it’s a very serious problem, the research group said.

Although negative views of China have grown, Americans increasingly see China as a competitor and not as an enemy. Currently, 62% identify China as a competitor and 25% an enemy, with 10% seeing China as a partner, Pew said.

In January, only 54% chose competitor while 35% said enemy, almost exactly the same shares as the year prior, it noted.

Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party tend to have more negative views of China than Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party – 89% vs. 79%, respectively, Pew noted.

Differences are larger when it comes to economic issues. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say the China-U.S. economic relationship is bad and to prioritize getting tough on China on economic issues, Pew said. Just today, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a longtime China critic, disclosed a letter to Herbert Diess, chairman of the board of management of the Volkswagen Group, asking for further information regarding Volkswagen’s partnerships with Chinese companies Huayou Cobalt and Tsingshan Holding Group in connection with human rights issues.

Views of the world’s leading economic power also differ by partisanship, with 49% of Republicans naming China as the top economic power and 39% of Democrats saying the same, Pew noted.

The survey also found major differences in views of China between older and younger Americans. Older Americans are more likely to have negative views of China — to say the China-U.S. relationship is bad and to describe China as an enemy, Pew said. Older Americans are also more likely than younger adults to see nearly every issue in the bilateral relationship as a serious problem for the U.S., it said.

The age gap is stark when it comes to relations between mainland China and Taiwan. While 52% of Americans ages 65 and older consider tensions between mainland China and Taiwan a very serious problem, 26% of those ages 18 to 29 say the same, Pew found. A 25-point gap is also present when Americans think about the partnership between China and Russia, it said.

The survey was conducted by Pew Research Center on the Center’s nationally representative American Trends Panel among 3,581 adults March 21-27.

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@rflannerychina