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Poll: Unfavorable Views of China at All-Time High

Chinese president Xi Jinping / Getty Images
July 31, 2020

A new poll from the Pew Research Center revealed a surge in anti-China sentiment, with American animosity toward China at an all-time high.

Today, 73 percent of American adults have a negative view of the communist country, a 26-percent increase since 2018, according to the survey results. Two-thirds of respondents said China has done a bad job handling COVID-19, while 78 percent said China is at least somewhat to blame for the spread of the pandemic. More than one in four Americans consider China an "enemy," while nearly 60 percent see it as a "competitor."

The major dip in Chinese favorability comes after a historic month in Sino-American relations. China imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong and looks to constrain Taiwan. Meanwhile, new revelations about forced labor camps for Uyghur minorities have infuriated House and Senate Republicans.

American policy is beginning to reflect the hawkish sensibility most Americans now share. In a landmark speech last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo outlined Washington’s new attitude toward Beijing.

"If the free world doesn't change communist China, communist China will surely change us," Pompeo said. "Securing our freedoms from the Chinese Communist Party is the mission of our time, and America is perfectly positioned to lead it because our founding principles give us that opportunity."

Matching the secretary's tough rhetoric, Washington has upped its sanctions regime against China, closed a Chinese consulate, and started to reposition itself to make a stand in the South China Sea.

Published under: China