US citizens' attitudes towards China have become increasingly negative in the past two years, a new PEW poll found.
Published on April 28, 2022, researchers compared the poll's findings with a similar one conducted in 2020.
67% Americans believed that China's power and influence were a major threat, up from 62% in 2020; 66% believe that its power and influence are getting stronger; 43% that China is the world's leading economic power, up from 32% in 2020; and 19% saw China as the world's leading military power, up from just 6% in 2020.
Americans also responded negatively to the relationship between Russia and China, which has not denounced Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24 . Some 62% saw the relationship as a very serious problem for the US and another 30% saw it as somewhat serious.
Interestingly, however, Between January and March 2022 Americans shifted towards labeling China as a competitor as opposed to enemy. In January, 54% saw China as a competitor and 35% as an enemy, while the numbers dropped to 62% and 25% in March. The opposite is true for Russia, the survey found. In January, 49% of Americans saw Russia a competitor and 41% as an enemy, while in March the numbers leaped to 70% enemy and 24% competitor.
Other questions found that 47% of Americans saw China's involvement in politics in the US as very serious problem for the US; 43% saw China's military power in the same light; 42% China's policies on human rights; 35% economic competition with China; 35% saw tensions between China and Taiwan as a very serious problem for the US; and 26% said the same about mainland China's policies in Hong Kong.
The survey found large differences between Republicans and Democrats on many issues related to China, with Republicans usually holding a more negative view.
For example, 42% of American who defined themselves as either Republican or leaning to Republican see China as an enemy of the US, versus just 12% of Democrats/leaning towards Democrats. 75% Republicans/lean Republicans believed that the economic relations between the US and China are bad, while 51% of Democrats/lean Democrats thought the same.
67% of the former believed that on economic issues it is more important to get tougher than build a strong relationship with China, while 43% of the latter said the same.
Another interesting split was found between age groups, as older Americans tended to view China in a negative light than youngsters.
For example, 74% of Americans aged 65 and over saw the China-Russia as being a very serious problem for the US, while 49% of 18 to 29-year-olds agreed. In addition, 58% aged 65+ said that China's involvement in US politics was a serious problem while 38% aged 18-29 said the same.
On human rights, 68% of Americans believed that the US should try to promote human rights in China even if it harms economic relations, while 28% believed that the Us should prioritize strengthening economic relations even if it means not addressing human rights issues.
The one issue that garnered a wide consensus was whether the US was the top military power in the world. 70% of Americans believed so, with 19% naming China as the world's leading military power and 9% naming Russia.