WASHINGTON – More people in various regions of the world now hold a positive view of China than of the United States, survey results showed Wednesday.
Pew Research Center’s study of public views about the United States and China, covering more than 30 countries, found that among the 20 countries polled annually since 2023, a median of 46 percent of adults held a favorable opinion of the Asian power, up from 38 percent in 2025.
In contrast, the figure for the United States fell to 36 percent from 48 percent last year, marking a reversal in favorability in the second year of President Donald Trump’s second term.
The nonpartisan U.S. think tank also asked if survey participants had confidence in the countries’ respective leaders “to do the right thing regarding world affairs,” with a median of 31 percent responding positively for Chinese President Xi Jinping as opposed to 21 percent for Trump. In last year’s results, Xi had been at 25 percent for the question, compared to Trump’s 32 percent.
The findings showed the reversal stemming from worsening public perceptions of Trump and the United States in its two neighboring countries, Canada and Mexico, as well as in Europe. Additionally, the favorability rating for China outpaced that for the United States by especially wide margins in Asian and Middle Eastern countries.
The institute surveyed about 42,000 adults in 35 countries, as well as in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, from Feb. 8 to May 13.
Only in six countries — Israel, Japan, India, South Korea, the Philippines and Poland — did the study find that more people clearly had positive views of the United States.
Among them, survey participants from Israel marked the widest margin, with 81 percent viewing the United States favorably versus 19 percent holding a positive view of China, followed by Japan, where the respective figures were 50 percent and 11 percent.
In the Philippines, another U.S. ally in Asia, the corresponding figures were 56 percent and 40 percent.
While the research center observed roughly equally favorable views of the United States and China in Britain, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana and Hungary, responses collected in the remaining countries showed that perceptions of China were markedly more positive.
Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Spain, Italy and Mexico were among those countries where China’s image was shown to be far better than that of the United States.