AP poll: China’s influence worries the United States the most

WASHINGTON (AP) — Only 40% of American adults approve of President Joe Biden’s handling of relations with China, a new poll shows, with the majority worrying about Beijing’s influence as the White House he feels that its agenda is increasingly determined by the world. rivalries.

About six in 10 people say they are very concerned about China, the world’s second largest economy after the United States, according to a survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Biden sees his national infrastructure and computer chip development agenda as part of a broader competition with China and argues the future hangs in the balance.

Tensions with China are rising after government officials discovered and shot down a Chinese spy balloon two weeks ago. The Biden administration has maintained tariffs on imports from China and restricted the sale of advanced computer chips to the country, angering Chinese officials who want to accelerate economic growth.

There are additional worries about whether China will provide any military support to Russia for the war in Ukraine. As the war nears its first year, the poll shows that serious concerns about the threat Russia poses to the United States have subsided. Concern for China now outweighs that of Russia; last year, nearly equal percentages named both countries a threat.

Biden has sought to frame relations with China as a limited competition rather than a broader geopolitical clash.

Biden’s foreign policy endorsement is more or less in line with the views of his presidency as a whole, a possible sign that his agenda is not seen through its individual components but rather through broader perceptions of the president himself. -even.

The poll found that 45% of American adults say they approve of Biden’s overall performance and 54% disapprove. It’s similar to Biden’s views in recent months. At the end of January, 41% praised the president and 43% did so in December.

Concern about China’s global influence as a threat to the United States is similar to last year, but has risen steadily in recent years, rising from 54% just after he took office. Biden and 48% in January 2020. .

Fewer and fewer adults distrust Russia as they did just after its army invaded Ukraine last year. Now, 53% say they are seriously concerned about Russia, up from 64% in March 2022.

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The survey conducted Feb. 16-20 included 1,247 adults sampled from NORC’s AmeriSpeak Probability Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.