China now outshines United States in favorability in 25 of 36 countries

For the first time in roughly two decades, a Pew Research Center poll shows a global tilt toward Beijing, with more respondents favoring China than the United States in twenty‑five of the thirty‑six nations surveyed.

The massive survey fielded by Pew between 8 February and 13 May 2026 asked 42,151 adults from 36 countries plus the West Bank and East Jerusalem about their views of the two superpowers, their leaders and the respect each government shows for personal freedoms. Margins of error ranged from 2.3 percentage points to 5.5 percentage points depending on the country.

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In twenty‑five nations – including Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and a host of other European powers – respondents named China as the more likable country. Only six countries still viewed the United States more positively: Israel, Japan, India, South Korea, the Philippines and Poland. Israel leads the group, with about eight in ten Israelis holding a favourable view of the United States compared with roughly one‑fifth for China.

How the shift unfolded

Laura Silver, associate director of Pew’s Global Attitudes Research, described the finding as “a remarkable shift driven in part by tensions between the Trump administration and U.S. Allies.” She added that the timing of the poll – during the United States and Israel’s war against Iran – created “an actual relationship between the outbreak of the war and the sense that the U.S. Is just not contributing to peace and stability and that people have less confidence in Donald Trump.”

Silver said the United States had “done a lot in terms of global engagement in recent months to years that is not being perceived positively internationally,” while noting that “by comparison, we know that China is seen to be a more reliable partner in many places. It’s more likely to be seen to contribute to global peace and stability.”

She linked the swing partly to the fading memory of the COVID‑19 pandemic. “The shift follows the COVID‑19 pandemic becoming a distant issue and as global views of the U.S. Have soured,” Silver explained.

Specific U.S. Actions that respondents cited as damaging included former President Trump’s demand to control Greenland, the military raid that captured Venezuela’s then‑leader Nicolás Maduro, and the handling of the Israeli‑Hamas war in Gaza.

Leader favourability

Views of the two leaders mirrored the country‑level trends. In twenty‑two of the surveyed nations – from Canada and Mexico to France, Germany and the United Kingdom – people expressed a more favourable opinion of Chinese President Xi Jinping than of U.S. President Donald Trump. Even where neither leader achieved a majority‑positive rating, Xi’s numbers were double‑digit points higher than Trump’s in Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, where his highest favourability reached 37 percent.

In several Asian neighbours – India, the Philippines and Japan – Trump still edged out Xi, while South Koreans now view the two leaders similarly, a dramatic shift from the previous year when Trump led by