/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f2443ac175b154108cb1896/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=8192&cropY1=416&cropY2=5026&w=1920&resize=1920,0&ssl=1 "This Poll May Explain Why Trump Spends So Much Time Attacking China")
TOPLINE
A majority of Americans see eye to eye with the Trump administration’s hawkish stance on China, according to a new poll, signaling a possible rare, winning message for the president as his campaign flounders and the legislature grapples over a coronavirus stimulus package.
President Trump holds a news conference at The White House.
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
KEY FACTS
The Pew Research Center poll, which surveyed 1,003 people across the nation found that 73% of Americans viewed China unfavorably, up 26 points from two years ago, with both Democrats and Republicans viewing China more negatively in the last four months, by 6 and 11 percentage points, respectively.
Around 64% of Americans say China has done a bad job of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and 78% say that the Chinese government should shoulder at least some blame for the pandemic’s wildfire-like spread across the globe.
68% of Americans said that economic relations between the two superpowers are in bad shape, with 73% of Democrats expressing concern, 10% more more than Republicans.
73% percent of people polled, and at least seven out of ten of both Republicans and Democrats, believe the U.S. should promote human rights in China, like the recent sanctioning of Chinese companies over alleged human rights violations against the Uighurs and other ethnic minorities, even at the risk of economic relations.
26% said they considered China an enemy, up from 15% in 2012, while 57% identified the country as a competitor, down from 66% the same year.
Key background
The relationship between the U.S. and China has been increasingly rocky in 2020. In a recent hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the Chinese Communist Party “the central threat to our times.” and expressed “dismay” over international support for Beijing’s new national security law that effectively ended Hong Kong’s autonomy. Earlier this month Washington shuttered a Chinese consulate in Houston over allegations of spying and intellectual property theft. In retaliation, China closed a consulate in Chengdu.
Chief critic
The feeling, it would appear, is mutual. In April, the Eurasia Group Foundation poll found that only 39% of people in China had a favorable view of the U.S.
further reading
Americans Fault China for Its Role in the Spread of COVID-19 (Pew Research Center)
US: Pompeo says ‘tide is turning’ against China (Al Jazeera)
US sanctions 11 Chinese companies over human rights abuses in Xinjiang (CNN)
As $600 Weekly Unemployment Benefits Expire, Here’s The Latest On When More Relief Could Come (Forbes)
Trump Pauses Advertising To Tweak Message—But Biden, Allies Ramp Up (Forbes)
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