Public's view of China improving in the US

Public attitude in the United States toward China has improved in recent times, with a growing number of US citizens favoring engagement with China over efforts to limit its growth, according to two major survey reports released ahead of Thursday's meeting between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC.

A report released on Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan organization, found that respondents gave China an average score of 37 on a zero-to-100 "feeling thermometer", where zero represented the "coldest" and most negative view and 100 the "warmest" and most positive view. The score is up from 28 recorded in 2021.

The Pew survey was conducted from Sept 14 to Sunday among 5,193 US adults, including 1,168 who rated China. While people in the US continue to view China more negatively in general, the report showed that their attitude has improved in recent years.

According to the poll, 19 percent of respondents now hold a positive view of China, up from 11 percent in 2021, while 27 percent have a neutral view, compared with 20 percent five years ago.

Age played a key role in the survey. US adults under 50 gave China an average score of 42, compared with 31 among those aged 50 and older. However, both groups rated China more positively than they did in 2021.

A separate survey report released on Monday by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs also found a shift from "containment" toward "engagement".

The Chicago Council Survey, conducted from July 10 to 21 among a nationally representative sample of 2,156 adults, found that the respondents gave China an average score of 39, up from 26 in 2024. It is the highest level recorded by the council since 2020.

The survey found that 57 percent of US respondents favored a policy of "friendly cooperation and engagement" with China, while 40 percent preferred actively limiting China's growth.

Support for engagement has increased since 2024 and now extends across much of the political spectrum, the survey found. Perceptions of China have improved across partisan lines in the past two years, with both Democrats and Republicans viewing China more positively than before, the findings showed.

The Chicago council also found that fewer people in the US now view China as a "critical threat". Forty-one percent said that China's territorial ambitions posed a critical threat to the US, down from 52 percent in 2022.

The survey further found that people in the US are now more likely to say that China is earning global respect than they were in 2021.

renali@chinadailyusa.com