According to a Gallup poll, 50% of Americans say China is the greatest enemy to the U.S., followed by Russia at 32%, North Korea at 7%, and Iran at 2%.
The latest results are from Gallup's World Affairs survey, coinciding with China's surveillance balloon being shot down over U.S. waters last month. China also is providing support to Russia in the Ukraine conflict. Further adding fuel to the China mistrust is the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan.
China gets the top spot in the poll for the third year in a row, with Republicans more likely than Democrats to view China as the greatest enemy.
China has been the overwhelming choice of Republicans each of the past three years, mentioned by at least 70%. This year, 76% of Republicans cited China.
A majority of Democrats (53%) name Russia as the main enemy. The Russia-Ukraine war, President Joe Biden's support for Ukraine, and reports of Russian interference in past U.S. elections are some of the contributing factors.
Independents are most likely to name China at 46%, with 32% naming Russia as America's greatest enemy.
Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Feb. 1-23, with a random sample of 1,008 adults living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.
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