Chinese Communist regime now seen as America’s greatest enemy, doubling 2020 percentage

When asked by Gallup last month which country they perceived to be the United States’ greatest enemy in the world today, 45% of Americans chose China.

That’s more than double the 22% who identified China in February 2020, just before the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, when Russia barely edged out China as the top perceived enemy at 23%.

As recently as 2018, only 11% of Americans saw China as the top threat.

Source: Gallup

The same poll asked Americans to identify the leading economic power in the world today. Gallup notes that this number is “often influenced by the current health of the U.S. economy.”

In February 2020, at the peak of the Trump economic boom, Americans perceived their own country as the leading economic power for the first time in 20 years, with 50% choosing the U.S. compared to 39% for China. By February 2021, these numbers had made a complete flip-flop with 50% favoring China to 37% for the U.S.

Perhaps the most striking change was in public perception of whether China’s economic power itself is inherently a critical threat.

Source: Gallup

As Gallup reports:

A new high of 63% of Americans says the economic power of China is a critical threat to the vital interests of the U.S. in the next 10 years. An additional 30% describe it as an important, but not critical, threat.

The 63% who believe China’s economic power is a critical threat is up from 46% the last time the question was asked in 2019 and is more than 10 points above the prior highs of 52% in 2013 and 2014.

Views that China’s economic rise is a critical threat to the vital interests of the United States have climbed among all party groups. Today 81% of Republicans, 59% of independents and 56% of Democrats view China’s economic rise as such a threat.

It’s reassuring that a solid majority of Americans of all political persuasions see China’s economic rise as a clear danger to the interests of the United States. As China tests the limits of the international community, from genocidal activities in Xinjiang, to political repression in Hong Kong, to military expansionism in the South China Sea and Taiwan, American resolve will be essential to containing this authoritarian regime.

The Biden administration is still young, but many feel its policies may be compromised by  Joe Biden’s personal and family business dealings with the Chinese Communist Party and his ties to big tech and other global corporate interests with a strong stake in the Chinese market.

Perhaps the concerns of 63% of Americans and 56% of his own party will drive home the seriousness of the situation.