One in four Americans now sees China as an enemy of the US

The US-China rivalry is no longer confined to the halls of power, but has spilled decisively over into the American public consciousness. And putting that genie back into the bottle is getting harder by the year, as new survey results from the the Washington, DC-based Pew Research Center suggest.

One in four Americans now sees China as an enemy of the US, 4% higher than in 2021 and 3% higher than just before the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, according to Pew. About half of those surveyed see China is a competitor, while just 6% say China is a partner.

Registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are nearly twice as likely as registered Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents to view Beijing as an enemy. But the share of Democrats who describe China as a foe has more than doubled since March 2022, from 12% to 27%. The share of Democrats who think of China as a partner has more than halved over the same period, to 7%. According to Pew, 83% of US adults have unfavorable views of China, versus 14% with favorable views.

Pew’s online survey polled 3,576 US adults in March 2023. The survey is weighted to be representative of the US adult population.

US perceptions of China are at an all-time low

US cooperation with China looks increasingly unlikely

While Washington’s stance on China—outlined last May in a speech by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken—is to “compete with confidence ... cooperate wherever we can ... [and] contest where we must,” American public opinion now sees dwindling opportunities for cooperation with China.

“When asked about five possible areas for cooperation between the U.S. and China, Americans express skepticism about partnering together on most issues,” Pew noted in its report accompanying the survey results.

The majority of Americans think Washington and Beijing will be unable to cooperate on climate change, respond to the spread of infectious diseases, or resolve international conflicts. Americans do see a higher likelihood of cooperation with China on trade and economic policy and on student exchange programs, with at least 50% saying the two countries can cooperate on each of these issues.

Notably, a substantially higher share of Americans expressed pessimism about cooperating with China on climate change (52%) than on trade and economic policy (38%). Yet the transition away from fossil fuels is fundamentally an industrial competition over clean energy technology like batteries, rare earth permanent magnets, and electric vehicles. And the competitive industrial arena is shaped by trade and economic regulations, as well as industrial policies. That means that the lack of cooperation on the energy transition will likely hinder cooperation on economic and trade policy.

As a result, the prospects for substantive economic and technological cooperation between Washington and Beijing may be even gloomier than Americans realize.