AP-NORC poll: China's global influence worries US majority
>> Just 40% of U.S. adults approve of how President Joe Biden is handling relations with China, a new poll shows, with a majority anxious about Beijing's influence as the White House finds its agenda increasingly shaped by global rivalries.
About 6 in 10 say they are gravely concerned about China, the world's secondlargest economy after the United States, according to the survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Biden has portrayed his domestic agenda on infrastructure and computer chip development as part of a broader competition with China, arguing that the future is at stake.
Tensions with China are crackling after government officials discovered and shot down a Chinese spy balloon two weeks ago. The Biden administration has preserved tariffs on imports from China and restricted the sale of advanced computer chips to the country, angering Chinese officials who want to fuel faster economic growth.
There are additional concerns over whether China will provide some form of military support for Russia's war in Ukraine. As the war nears its oneyear mark, the poll shows that serious concern about the threat Russia poses to the U.S. has fallen. Concern about China now outpaces that about Russia; last year, about even percentages had named the two countries as a threat.
Biden has tried to frame relations with China as a competition with boundaries, rather than as a larger geopolitical clash.
“We seek competition, not conflict, with China,” Biden said last week. “
We're not looking for a new Cold War . ... We'll responsibly manage that competition so that it doesn't veer into conflict.”
Approval of Biden's foreign policy is roughly in line with views of his presidency more broadly, a possible sign that his agenda is not viewed through its individual components but larger perceptions of the president himself.
The poll found that 45% of U.S. adults say they approve of Biden's overall performance, while 54% disapprove. That's similar to views of Biden in recent months. Forty-one percent praised the president in late January and 43% did in December.
Concern about China's global influence as a threat to the U.S. is similar to last year but has grown steadily in recent years from 54% just after Biden took office and 48% in January 2020.
Melvin Dunlap, 68, said Biden needed to be careful with China, given the U.S. reliance on Chinese manufacturing. The Peyton, Colorado, resident said he believes Biden “has a good heart” and “means well,” generally approving of Biden's approach.
“You tread cautiously,” said Dunlap, who retired
from law enforcement. “You show strength, not weakness.”
Fewer adults feel as wary about Russia as they did just after its military invaded Ukraine last year. Now, 53% say they're seriously concerned about Russia, down from 64% in March 2022.
Michael Marchek, 33, an engineer in the Atlanta area, said Russia's military has struggled in Ukraine, failing to achieve its goal of taking the capital of Kyiv and sustaining steep casualties that showed a sense of disarray.
“I was more concerned about Russia before they proved they were less effective than they appeared to be on the surface,” Marchek said. “They played their hand and they did not play their hand effectively. They have nuclear capabilities and other things, but I don't think they're interested in using them.”
Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, declaring to that country's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “You remind us that freedom is priceless; it's worth fighting for for as long as it takes. And that's how long we're going to be with you, Mr. President, for as long as it takes.”`