China is now perceived more positively globally as compared to the United States, according to a new survey.
Till last year, after Trump took over the Oval Office for the second time, the global view of the United States worsened but managed to stay better than China, often considered its main rival. However this year, China has managed to be seen more positively globally as compared to the US.
According to a survey done by the Pew Research Centre, most of the 36 countries surveyed viewed China in a more positive light than the US.
While many people still are not much confident in Chinese President Xi Jinping, their opinion of him has shifted in his favour as compared to his US counterpart Donald Trump.
This change in global view between the leaders of China and the US comes during Trump’s second term in the White House. During Joe Biden’s presidency, he enjoyed more confidence of people as compared to Xi during the second half of his term across several countries, even as his rating declined in several places from 2023 to 2024.
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However, even since Trump took office in January 2025, the US President has lost his ratings significantly.
Where US still performs better?
Even as China is ahead of the US in terms of the popularity of their leaders, one key area where the latter continues to perform better is safeguarding personal freedoms.
“More say the U.S. government respects the personal freedoms of its people than say the same of the Chinese government,” according to Pew Research Centre report.
However, this gap is also shrinking rapidly as “people in nearly every country surveyed have become less likely to say the U.S. government respects its people’s personal freedoms”, says the report.
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Which country favours who?
Out of the 36 countries surveyed, people in most countries viewed China more positively than the US, and most of these countries are Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern, such as — Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Turkey, Thailand, Indonesia, and more. These also include US’ immediate neighbours Canada and Mexico.
However, India is among the only six countries where people view the US more positively, along with Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Israel, and Poland.
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Trump or Xi?
While both the leaders do not enjoy much high confidence, in the countries surveyed, people were more confident of Xi than they were of Trump, including in India’s neighbours such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
However, in India, and China’s neighbours such as the Philippines and Japan, Trump enjoys better ratings than Xi.
On questions related to the foreign policy of both China and the US, people in 17 of the middle-income countries surveyed expressed more concern about the US’ foreign policy as compared to China.
“In nearly every country surveyed, more people see the U.S. as an interferer than China,” the report said.
