Negative views of China have continued to grow inside the United States.
According to a new Pew Research Center survey of Americans conducted in March, roughly two-thirds now say they have an unfavorable view of China, the most negative rating for the country since the Center began asking the question in 2005, and up nearly 20 percentage points since the start of the Trump administration.
Since Donald Trump won office in 2017, the US-China relations have peaked amid tariffs and trade war rhetoric, but now, as an unprecedented epidemic outbreak has swept through the world, the negative views of the American public towards China and President Xi Jinping have continued to grow. Pew Research shows that economic factors, such as job losses to China and the trade deficit, remain key concerns for the American public. But other issues – including Chinese human rights policies and environmental degradation – also worry Americans. Many of these issues play a role in how the public views China more broadly: Those who see the China-related topics included in the study as a serious problem generally have less favorable views of China overall.
These worries shift people views, resulting that now more Americans now see the U.S. as the world’s leading economic power than at any time over the past 12 years, even though the majority of Americans disapprove how Trump has managed this crisis. In fact, Americans now see the U.S. as more of an economic powerhouse than China by roughly two-to-one (59% vs. 30%). Americans also overwhelmingly believe their country leads the world militarily and that the world is better off with U.S. leadership as opposed to that of China.
Pew data shows views of China have soured further in 2020, building on the dramatic uptick in negativity seen between 2018 and 2019. Roughly two-thirds of Americans now have a negative opinion of China, the highest percentage recorded since Pew Research Center began asking the question in 2005. Only about a quarter in the U.S. report a favorable attitude. Older Americans, those ages 50 and older, are more likely than those ages 18 to 29 to have unfavorable views of China.
Confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping has also continued to decline, as roughly seven-in-ten Americans (71%) say they do not have confidence in Xi to do the right thing when it comes to world affairs – a high since the Center first asked the question. Just 22% say they have faith in the Chinese leader, down 15 percentage points since last year. The drop in confidence from 2019 to 2020 is especially notable. About nine-in-ten U.S. adults see China’s power and influence as a threat – including 62% who say it is a major threat.
When asked whether various issues involving China pose a problem for the U.S., at least two-thirds of Americans say each is a serious concern for their country. Topping the list is China’s impact on the global environment. A majority (61%) says China’s environmental footprint is a very serious problem for the U.S., a 10 percentage point increase from when the question was last asked in 2018. (China was recently estimated to emit roughly 30% of the world’s total amount of carbon dioxide but produces fewer greenhouse gases per capita than the U.S. does.) Those who see global climate change as a major threat are 28 points more likely than those who do not see global warming as a threat to be very concerned with China’s environmental impact.
As the U.S. keeps its market closed to the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei and raises alarms about the security of Chinese technology, about half of U.S. adults (47%) are concerned about China’s growing technological power. Americans are similarly concerned with cyberattacks from China. A majority of 57% say this poses a very serious problem to the U.S.
Click here to see the full Pew Research data.
