Last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a “high stakes” diplomatic visit to China following the discovery of a Chinese balloon flying over sensitive sites in the western United States. The balloon made its way across the country before it was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean. Shortly after, reports broke of other objects being spotted hovering over the United States, presumably from China.
A poll that was taken in the days following the discovery of the spy balloon shows that a record low of 15 percent of Americans view China favorably, according to the Gallup poll published Tuesday. In the findings, 45 percent view China “unfavorably” and 39 percent view it “mostly unfavorably.”
Gallup’s write-up noted that this percentage has fallen steadily over the past few years, from 41 percent in 2019, 33 percent in 2020, 20 percent in 2021 and 2022. Before this year, 20 percent was the lowest recorded.
Across political parties, China’s approval rating has fallen among Republicans (6 percent), Democrats (17 percent) and Independents (18 percent). In this year’s survey, 66 percent of Republicans have a “very unfavorable” view of China. Forty-four percent of Democrats have a “mostly unfavorable” view of China while 38 percent have a “very unfavorable” view.
In the survey, 80 percent of Republicans, 55 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of Independents see China’s military power as a critical threat to the United States.
Seventy-seven percent of respondents said they have a favorable opinion of Taiwan. And, 47 percent said that the conflict between China and Taiwan is a critical threat to U.S. interests over the next decade.
“Republicans are particularly critical of China,” the write-up explained. “They overwhelmingly name it as the United States’ greatest enemy and are more likely than Democrats and independents to consider its military and economic powers to be threats to the U.S.”