Charted: Global Attitudes Towards China And The U.s.

Charted: Global Attitudes Towards China and the U.S.

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How do people around the world feel about the two most powerful countries on the global stage?

Drawing from a recent Global Attitudes Survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, this visualization by Iswardi Ishak compares public opinion in 24 countries towards the United States and China.

The poll, which was conducted with 28,000 adults between January 8 and April 26, 2025, shows a highly diverse set of sentiments, with some nations expressing strong preference for one power over the other, while others show ambivalence or neutrality toward both.

Visualizing Favorability Around the World

The scatterplot above breaks down each country’s percentage of favorable opinion of the U.S. (vertical axis) against that of China (horizontal axis). The quadrant structure quickly reveal how widely opinions vary, and which countries lean more towards one global power over the other.

	Favorable toward U.S. (%)	Favorable toward China (%)	Difference (%)
Israel	83	33	50
South Korea	61	19	42
Japan	55	13	42
India	54	21	33
Poland	55	35	20
UK	50	39	11
Hungary	60	51	9
Australia	29	23	6
Brazil	56	51	5
Argentina	52	47	5
Germany	33	29	4
Italy	47	45	2
Sweden	19	18	1
France	36	36	0
Canada	34	34	0
Netherlands	29	30	-1
Nigeria	78	81	-3
Spain	31	37	-6
South Africa	50	57	-7
Türkiye	25	35	-10
Greece	45	56	-11
Kenya	62	74	-12
Indonesia	48	65	-17
Mexico	29	56	-27

Among the clearest takeaways: Israel stands out with an overwhelmingly favorable view of the U.S. (90%), the highest in the survey by a significant margin. This reflects long-standing U.S.-Israel strategic ties, including military aid, diplomatic backing, and broad bipartisan support within American politics. On the other end of the spectrum, Sweden reports the lowest favorability toward the U.S. at just 18%.

On the China side, Nigeria (83%) and Kenya (73%) show the strongest support, making Africa one of the few regions where both powers enjoy relatively high favorability.

The Declining Global Image of the U.S.

According to Pew’s research (and YouGov’s as well), favorable views of the United States have dropped significantly in Europe, especially in long-time allies like the Netherlands, Spain, and France. The decline is largely tied to ongoing dissatisfaction with U.S. foreign policy, climate change inaction, and internal political dysfunction. Even in countries traditionally friendly toward the U.S.—like Canada, the UK, and Australia—favorable views hover below 50%.

Meanwhile, some nations, such as South Korea and Japan, still report strong U.S. support. But across the board, Pew’s latest survey signals a downward shift from previous years.

China’s Perception is Shifting, Too

Though China’s global image remains mixed, many countries (particularly in the Global South) have reported rising favorability in 2025. Indonesia (69%), South Africa (56%), and Mexico (58%) all lean more positive toward China than the United States.

This reflects growing Chinese diplomatic and economic engagement in the Global South, especially through infrastructure initiatives and trade partnerships. That said, in most Western nations, views on China remain decidedly negative, often in parallel with unfavorable views of the U.S.

Where Do People Stand on Both?

Some countries, like Nigeria and Kenya, are outliers for their high favorability toward both powers. Meanwhile, many European nations express skepticism of both China and the U.S., which hints at a broader disillusionment with superpower politics.

For example, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands all fall in the bottom-left quadrant, expressing below-average favorability for both countries.

If you’re interested in how global sentiment toward Israel compares, check out our companion post: Survey: What the World Thinks About Israel.

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Looking for more context? Check out how Americans’ own views on China have shifted over time: US public opinion on China has changed a lot since 2017.