RT | Thursday, July 16, 2026 
China tops US in global favorability – survey

China and President Xi Jinping are now viewed more favorably than the US and Donald Trump across most of the world, a new Pew Research Center survey spanning six continents has found. Pew says China enjoys a more positive image than the US in 25 of the 36 countries and territories surveyed, including American neighbors Canada and Mexico. The trend is particularly pronounced across the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. The US leads in just six nations – Poland, Philippines, South Korea, India, Japan, and Israel – while views are roughly even in five others. The survey, released Wednesday, polled more than 42,000 people from February 8 to May 13, spanning the start of the US-led war on Iran. Among the 20 countries with comparable data since 2023, 46% now view China favorably against 36% for the US. Three years ago, the figures were reversed, with 58% favoring the US and 32% China. In 22 countries, respondents also expressed greater confidence in Xi than in Trump, although confidence in both leaders remained generally low. The only category in which the US outperformed China was respect for personal freedoms, although the gap was narrow. “Some of the views that we see of the US are at or near historic lows,” said Laura Silver, Pew’s associate director and co-author of the report, noting that this is the first time in nearly two decades of the organization’s global polling that China has been viewed more positively than the US. She said China has benefited from being seen as a more “reliable partner,” attributing the shift to improving perceptions of the country following its post-pandemic recovery. She noted, however, that views of the US fell after Trump launched the war on Iran…Read more