Do most around the globe prefer China?
- snitzoid
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You what happens to people who don't care for the US? They get visited by his Lordship Voldemort.
People in Many Countries Now View China More Positively Than the U.S.
More also have confidence in Xi than Trump, according to a survey in three dozen countries
By Jonathan Schulman, Laura Silver, Laura Clancy and William Miner, PEW Research
July 18, 2026
Global views of the United States worsened last year as President Donald Trump’s second term began, though most people still had a more positive opinion of the U.S. than China. This year, that is no longer the case.
This report compares how people around the world see the U.S. and China. For a more detailed look at the global image of each country, read our separately published reports:
Views of China have improved in recent years while opinions of the U.S. have worsened, to the point where China is now seen more positively than the U.S. in most of 36 countries surveyed.
Confidence in these countries’ respective leaders to do the right thing regarding world affairs has followed a similar pattern. In the latter half of Joe Biden’s presidency, confidence in him was higher than confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping across most countries surveyed, though Biden’s rating declined in many places from 2023 to 2024.
During the first two years of Trump’s second term, ratings of the U.S. president worsened significantly. While many people still lack confidence in Xi, positive views of him have become more widespread, and more overall now say they have confidence in Xi than in Trump.
A bar chart showing that More say the U.S. respects the freedoms of its people than China
One area where the U.S. still gets higher ratings than China has to do with personal freedoms: More say the U.S. government respects the personal freedoms of its people than say the same of the Chinese government. Still, the gap has been narrowing – driven by large drops in the shares saying the U.S. government respects personal freedoms.
As China and the U.S. compete for influence around the world, we also examined how people in six Latin American countries see their foreign policy roles. People in these nations previously tended to see the U.S. as a more reliable partner than China, but several publics are now split. For more, read “How do views of the U.S. and China compare in Latin America? ”
In the sections below, we compare international public opinion on the U.S. and China, their leaders, their foreign policy roles and more. Results are based on surveys of 42,151 adults conducted Feb. 8-May 13, 2026.
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