Since 2018, the proportion of Americans who view China with negative eyes has increased by 26 percentage points. Today, 73 percent of Americans, regardless of education level, state that they have an unfavorable image of China. This is the lowest figure in the 15 years that the Pew Research Center has conducted the measurements. Significantly more older than younger Americans view China critically.

Lacks confidence

President Xi Jinping is viewed with great skepticism by the public in the United States. Nearly 8 out of 10 Americans lack confidence in the Chinese leader.

There is a widespread perception among Americans that China mismanaged the outbreak of coronavirus in the city of Wuhan. Nearly 8 out of 10 Americans put a large or good part of the blame for the spread of the virus on Beijing's initial actions.

More people see China as an enemy

As for trade relations between China and the United States, 68 percent of Americans think they are in a bad situation. This is an increase of 15 percentage points from May last year, when the trade war between the countries was high on the news agenda.

The study shows that the image of China is negative among both Republicans and Democrats. However, there are more Republicans whose image is very negative. One in four Americans sees China as the enemy of the United States, which is twice as many as in 2012.

"US economy leading"

Nearly two-thirds of respondents believe that the United States should work for human rights in China, even if it harms trade and the economy. At the same time, the proportion of Americans who see the US economy as superior to China's has declined in recent months. But still more than half believe that the US economy is a world leader.

The study was conducted by the politically independent Pew Research Center, which interviewed 1,003 adult Americans by telephone from a representative section of the population from mid-June onwards.