Surveys Show More Americans Warming to China

People holding American and Chinese flags wait for the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Waldorf Astoria hotel as streets and sidewalks in the area are closed in Washington, D.C., on Sept.

23, 2026. —Oliver Contreras—AFP/Getty Images Americans are warming to China, new surveys show.

A Pew Research Center survey published Wednesday found that the share of Americans with a cold view of China has fallen to 54% from 68% in 2021.

Over the same period, the share of Americans with a warm view of China grew from 11% to 19%, while those with a neutral view grew from 20% to 27%.

The findings are based on responses from 1,168 U.S. adults who were asked to rate China as part of a broader survey conducted Sept.

14-20.

Another survey published this week by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that American sentiment towards China has warmed since a record low in 2024.

The survey, conducted July 10-21, showed that fewer Americans see China as a threat, with 41% considering China’s territorial ambitions a critical threat to the U.S. as compared to 52% in 2022.

Americans also increasingly favor cooperation with China over containment: 57% said the U.S. should engage with China, while 40% think the U.S. should actively limit the growth of China’s power.

“There is appetite for engagement.

Part of this may be recognition that better understanding is a positive,” says Ja-Ian Chong, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.

Chong says the results reflect a “rebound” from pandemic-era lows of U.S. views of China.

A Pew survey published in July 2020 found that 73% of Americans viewed China unfavorably—then the highest share since Pew began tracking the measure in 2005.

By 2023, a separate Pew survey found that figure had risen to 83%, amid widespread concern about Beijing’s relationship with Russia and tensions over Taiwan.