60 percent of Americans think China is a bigger threat than Russia

Julia Mueller
·2 min read
12

Around six in 10 Americans in a new poll think China is a bigger threat to the United States than Russia amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijjing, and against the backdrop of Russia’s ongoing, year-long war on Ukraine.

A Quinnipiac University survey presented respondents with six countries to choose from, and 61 percent of respondents picked China as the top threat to the U.S.

There was a dropoff between the share of respondents who picked China and the 22 percent of respondents who said Russia poses the biggest threat.

A greater percentage of Republicans (79 percent) than Democrats (47 percent) said China was the biggest threat — while a greater share of Democrats (38 percent) than Republicans (10 percent) picked Russia.

The poll, conducted in early March, comes a few weeks after the U.S. shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon that defense officials say flew over sensitive American military sites — and amid State Department concerns that China could supply Russia with lethal aid in its war on Ukraine.

China’s Foreign Ministry also said earlier this week that the U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom  are on a “wrong and dangerous path” after the three nations announced a deal for Australia to buy nuclear-powered submarines from the U.S.

President Biden said on Monday that he plans to meet soon with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Eight percent of respondents in the Quinnipiac University poll picked North Korea as the biggest threat, and 2 percent picked Iran. Cuba and Venezuela were also presented as options, but both earned negligible scores.

The new Quinnipiac University results are in line with a Gallup poll released earlier this month that found 50 percent of Americans think China is the country’s “greatest enemy,” while 32 percent named Russia.

The Quinnipiac University poll surveyed 1,795 U.S. adults from March 9-13 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.

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