Forty-five percent of Americans now consider China to be the United States’ greatest enemy, more than double the percentage a year ago, according to a new poll released March 16 by Gallup, a U.S. polling organization. A record 63 percent of Americans believe China’s economic power is a key threat to the United States, according to the poll. Another poll released the same day by the Angus Reid Institute, a Canadian pollster, found that 77 percent of Canadians believe that any warming of relations between China and Canada depends on whether China releases Canadian citizens Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.
Gallup’s annual survey is spaced roughly in line with the past year, when the new crown Epidemic has had a major socio-economic impact on the United States and the world. Its latest release of this poll was conducted between Feb. 3 and 18, 2021. 2020’s survey was conducted between Feb. 3 and 16.
Gallup’s poll, released Tuesday, shows that at the same Time last year, 22 percent of Americans considered China to be the United States’ greatest enemy, and slightly more, 23 percent, considered Russia to be the greatest enemy; 19 percent also considered Iran to be the greatest enemy, and 12 percent considered North Korea to be the greatest enemy. And by this year, 45% of respondents believe that China is the biggest enemy of the United States, that Russia is the biggest enemy accounted for 26%, that North Korea is the biggest enemy slipped to 9%, only 4% of respondents believe that Iran is the biggest enemy.
The poll said there are clear differences between voters of all parties in their views of America’s greatest enemy, with Republicans ranking China as their number one enemy and Democrats ranking Russia as their number one enemy. 76 percent of Republicans believe China is America’s greatest enemy, but 43 percent of independents and 22 percent of Democrats agree. Conversely, 47% of Democrats view Russia as America’s greatest enemy, while 24% of independents and 6% of Republicans agree with this view.
Among U.S. adults surveyed, those with a favorable view of China fell for the second consecutive year, dropping to a record low of 20 percent this year. On the question of who is the world’s top economic power, 50 percent of Gallup poll respondents chose China this year, compared with 37 percent who chose the United States. This is almost a reversal of position compared to the same period last year. Gallup believes this may be because the U.S. economy has declined over the past year due to the impact of the new crown epidemic. While China has made strong progress in overall GDP growth, it is still the world’s second largest economy after the United States. In a Gallup poll conducted a year ago, 50 percent of Americans chose the United States and 39 percent chose China on the question of who is the world’s top economic power.
A separate question in the survey asked Americans which country they thought would be the global economic leader within 20 years. Respondents were more evenly split on this question, with 46 percent choosing China and 40 percent choosing the United States. Again, this is a shift from last year when a majority (53%) predicted the U.S. would assume this role. Last year’s results nearly matched the record high of 55% choosing the U.S. in 2000.
The Gallup poll also noted that a record 63 percent of Americans said China’s economic power poses a critical threat to vital U.S. interests in the next decade, up from 46 percent last year. Another 30 percent of respondents said China is an important but not critical threat. The poll found that those who believe China’s economic rise poses a key threat to the U.S. has risen across party groups, with 81 percent of Republicans, 59 percent of independents and 56 percent of Democrats holding this view today. 2019 saw fewer supporters across party lines holding this view, including 54 percent of Republicans, 47 percent of independents and 37 percent of Democrats.
In addition, in response to the news that Spavor and Cominga will face court appearances, a poll released by the Angus Reid Institute noted that 77% of Canadians believe that any warming of Sino-Canadian relations will depend on China releasing the pair. Canadians’ views of the Chinese government remain bleak: 14% say they have a favorable view of China (unchanged from last year) and only 11% advocate closer trade relations with China. 56% believe Canada should sit out the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
79% of Canadians believe that respect for human rights and the rule of law should take precedence over trade and investment opportunities in dealings with China. This is an increase of 17 percentage points since 2019 in the number of people holding this view. Three-quarters of respondents agreed that China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims should be called “genocide. These results were found in a poll of 5,004 Canadians conducted by the Institute from Feb. 26 to March 3.
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