For the first time in two decades, more people globally view China more favorably than the United States, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center. The survey, conducted from February to May, found that 25 out of 36 countries and territories surveyed expressed a more positive view of China than the U.S.
This marks a significant shift, as for years, global opinion has largely favored the U.S. over China. The change is partially attributed to rising tensions between the Trump administration and U.S. allies, as well as global perceptions of U.S. actions.
Views on Chinese leader Xi Jinping also surpassed those of U.S. President Donald Trump in 22 of the 36 surveyed countries, including Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, and the U.K. However, the poll also indicated low confidence in both leaders across many nations.
Laura Silver, an associate director at Pew and a researcher on the study, stated that this is the first time China has held a more positive global standing than the U.S. in the roughly 20 years Pew has been tracking such opinions. While past views of Beijing and Washington have been similar, China's favorability has not been significantly higher until now.
The shift coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic receding as a major global concern and a general souring of international views toward the U.S. According to Silver, the outbreak of war and a perception that the U.S. is not contributing to peace and stability have lowered confidence in President Trump.
Specific U.S. actions, such as demands regarding Greenland, a military raid in Venezuela, and the handling of the Israeli-Hamas war, have also contributed to low approval ratings in several countries. Silver noted that recent U.S. global engagement has not been perceived positively abroad.
Beyond the fading impact of the pandemic, China's improved standing appears to be a result of direct comparison with the U.S. In many regions, China is now seen as a more reliable partner and a greater contributor to global peace and stability.
In key U.S. allied nations, the shift in sentiment has been particularly pronounced. In Canada, for example, favorable views of the U.S. dropped from 57% in 2023 to 33% in the recent survey. Concurrently, favorable opinions of China rose from 14% to 44% in the same period. During this time, Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods and suggested Canada could become the "51st state."
Major European nations, including France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and the Netherlands, have also reversed their opinions on the two economic powers. In the U.K., where about 60% held positive views of the U.S. in 2023, opinions on China and the U.S. are now similar. Three years prior, the U.S. held a 32-percentage point advantage.
Israel remains an outlier, with about 80% of Israelis viewing the U.S. positively, compared to 19% for China. Other countries where the U.S. still holds a favorability edge over China include Japan, India, South Korea, the Philippines, and Poland. However, even in these nations, views of the U.S. have reportedly dimmed in recent years.
The U.S. still leads China in terms of government respect for personal freedoms, though this gap is narrowing. The Pew report indicates that people in nearly every surveyed country are less likely to say the U.S. government respects its people's personal freedoms compared to 2021, when the question was last asked. This decline in perception has contributed to the reduced divide between U.S. and Chinese favorability.
The Pew survey included responses from over 42,000 individuals across 35 countries, plus the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Margins of error for the survey range from 2.3 to 5.5 percentage points, depending on the specific country.