About 27 per cent of Americans had a favorable view of China, according to the survey conducted in March, up 6 percentage points since 2025 and nearly double from a low in 2023, when an alleged Chinese spy balloon incident compounded deteriorating ties from a trade war and the COVID-19 pandemic, Bloomberg reported.
Now, fewer Americans consider China an enemy, while more describe Beijing as a competitor.
About one in 10 respondents said China is a partner of the US, according to the poll.
US-China relations stabilized after a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea in 2025 that dialed back an escalating trade war.
The two leaders are slated to meet in May in Beijing and potentially again later in the year, as China’s top envoy hailed a “landmark year” for US ties despite a widening war against Iran.
The proportion of Democrats who view China favorably increased 8 percentage points from 2025, while opinions among Republicans were little changed, according to the Pew survey.
Confidence in China’s Xi to “do the right thing” improved by 4 percentage points, while confidence in Trump to make good policy decisions regarding China slipped 6 percentage points compared with in 2025.
The results use data from two surveys conducted in January and March that polled thousands of US adults.