Americans grow a bit friendlier toward China
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The percentage of Americans holding favorable views of China rose for the third straight year, according to an annual Pew survey, and has nearly doubled since 2023.
- Meanwhile, the share of Americans who view China as an "enemy" has fallen significantly over that time.
Why it matters: Distrust of China hardened into a bipartisan consensus beginning in Trump's first term. It's now softening somewhat during Trump 2.0.
- The U.S. and China are the world's two superpowers, locked in a competition for technological dominance and global influence.
- How their citizens see one another could have some bearing on that competition.
By the numbers: China's favorability among Americans bottomed out in 2023, with 14% approving and 83% disapproving.
- In the most recent survey, conducted in late March, 27% saw China favorably and 71% unfavorably.
- The increase was driven by Democrats (34% approval), who were nearly twice as likely as Republicans (18%) to view China favorably.
- Democrats are also far less likely than Republicans to see China as an "enemy," at 14% and 44% respectively.
- The overall percentage of Americans viewing China as an enemy dropped from 42% in 2024 to 28% now.
However, Americans are still much more likely to label China a "competitor" than a "partner."
- And while confidence in President Xi Jinping to "do the right thing regarding world affairs" has doubled since 2023, it's still only at 17%.
- Americans don't much trust Trump's handling of the relationship with China either, with 60% lacking confidence in the president's approach.
What's next: Trump is scheduled to visit China next month. He has sought warmer relations with Xi since agreeing to a trade truce last November, though tensions have risen over the war in Iran.
What to watch: China's global favorability has risen as America's has fallen in Trump's second term.
Methodology: Data in this report comes from Pew Research Center's nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. The survey was conducted from March 23 to March 29, 2026. A total of 3,507 panelists responded out of 4,046 who were sampled, for a survey-level response rate of 87%. The margin of error is plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.
