Nearly 90 Percent of Americans Agree: Sanction Chinese Officials for Human Rights Abuses

A new U.S. poll finds that while Democratic and Republican voters are divided on whether China is the biggest threat to the United States, as many as 86 percent of U.S. voters have a high degree of consensus on one aspect of China policy: the need to sanction Chinese officials for human rights abuses.

A new poll released by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that while there are clear differences in views on foreign policy and the nation’s top threats, when it comes to China policy, there is a degree of consensus among U.S. voters.

“Cross-Party Consensus on China Policy: Sanctions on Officials, Arms Control Agreements, Anti-Tech Transfers

The poll was conducted in July 2020 among a sample of 2,111 U.S. voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percent.

The survey found that there is a rare consensus among U.S. voters of both parties on a number of China policies. In first place was “sanctioning Chinese officials for human rights abuses,” which was supported by 87 percent of Republican and Democratic voters and 85 percent of independent voters, for a combined total of 86 percent.

In second place was “the United States should negotiate an arms control agreement with China,” with a combined support of 75 percent. In third place is “prohibit U.S. companies from selling sensitive high-technology products to China,” with a combined seventy-four percent support. In fourth place was “working with China on climate change issues” with 72 percent support, and in fifth place was “prohibiting Chinese technology companies from establishing communication networks in the U.S.” with 69 percent support.

Bipartisan Differences: Whether to Restrict Chinese Students, Increase Tariffs on China

It is worth noting that voters in both parties are divided over policies on tariffs and academic exchanges. Seventy-six percent of Republicans support increasing tariffs on Chinese imports, while only 39 percent of Democrats support this. Sixty-five percent of Republicans support “limiting the number of Chinese students coming to the U.S.” while only 32 percent of Democrats support it.

Who is the number one threat to the United States? Republicans: China

When asked what the most serious threat to the United States is, voters of the two parties ranked them very differently. Republicans ranked China first, and Democrats did not have China in their top seven list of feared threats.

The top threats to the United States, according to Republicans, are China as a world power, international terrorism, immigrants and refugees, internal terrorism, a nuclear Iran, stagnant international economic development, and a nuclear North Korea. The top seven for Democrats are the New Crown epidemic, climate change, racial affirmative action, foreign election interference, uneven U.S. economic development, stagnant international economic development, and U.S. political antagonism.

Ivo Daalder, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, said that in light of these differences, “Democrats and Republicans have very different views of the world.”