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Ups and Downs of Public Opinion
falling from that spot for the first time in three years, as a new Gallup poll shows people are far more concerned about the threat posed by China.
A record-high 45% of Americans said they consider China to be the greatest enemy of the US, up from just 22% a year ago, according to a
Gallup poll released on Tuesday. The poll is taken each year in February. Russia slid to No. 2 on the list from the top spot, but was still picked by 26% of respondents, up from 23% in 2020. The shift comes at a time when former president Donald Trump has left office, but the mainstream media is still attacking him with Russia-based conspiracy theories, while blaming Moscow for sowing discord in the minds of gullible Americans.
Prior to Trump's election, Russia was ranked as the biggest threat only once this century, in 2015. China, on the other hand, returned to the top ranking of foes for the first time since 2014, perhaps at least partly because the Covid-19 pandemic
allegedly originated there.
Half of Americans also believe that China has overtaken the US
as the world's leading economic power. The US was seen as the top economic power by just 37% of respondents. Those numbers were approximately reversed a year earlier,
at 50%-39% in favor of the home team.
Comment: The
perceptions and ratings are subjective to such influences as news bias, politics, trends and checkout lines at the grocery store. Our evaluations, be they thought about and calculated or pre-formulated by outside impression management, define our levels of comprehension, rationalization, facts and instincts. In today's world, we are targeted - not for what we can do - but for how we are lead to react. And, someone has to be blamed for that life-changing Covid disaster.
The current shift in assigned values coincided with a period when the global economy and human activity were severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Feb. 3-18 poll finds favorable views of China among U.S. adults falling for the second straight year, putting the figure at a historically low 20%.
© Gallup
The 50% of Americans perceiving the U.S. as the top economic power a year ago was the highest in two decades, reflecting the nation's strong economic performance just before the pandemic.
Far fewer Americans select the European Union (5%), Japan (4%), Russia (2%) or India (1%) for this distinction. Of these, only Japan has been chosen by 10% or more in Gallup's trend since 2000, with those instances occurring more than a decade ago.
A separate question in the survey asks Americans which country they think will be the leading economic power in 20 years. The public's views are more evenly split on this question, with 46% choosing China and 40% the United States. Again, this is a switch from last year when the majority (53%) predicted the U.S. would have this role, nearly matching the record high 55% selecting the U.S. in 2000. No more than 4% foresee the European Union, Japan, India or Russia achieving this distinction in 20 years.
Record High See Chinese Economic Power as Critical U.S. Threat
A new high of 63% of Americans says the economic power of China is a critical threat to the vital interests of the U.S. in the next 10 years. An additional 30% describe it as an important, but not critical, threat.
Views that China's economic rise is a critical threat to the vital interests of the United States have climbed among all party groups. Today 81% of Republicans, 59% of independents and 56% of Democrats view China's economic rise as such a threat. In 2019, fewer in all party groups held that view, including 54% of Republicans, 47% of independents and 37% of Democrats.
Bottom Line
Perceptions of China as the greatest enemy of the U.S. are at a high point in Gallup's trend at the same time its favorable rating is at a low point. The specific concern some Americans have over China, namely its economic power, is identified as a threat to the vital interests of the U.S. by most Americans. In addition, half of Americans view China as the leading economic power in the world today. These developments make U.S. foreign policy toward China especially important, as the tension between the two nations has only grown over the past decade during both the Barack Obama and Donald Trump administrations.
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