US War With China Is Approved By Americans, Poll Says

Maybe China isn’t so tough? At least that’s what the majority of Americans think.

Americans no longer considered China to be as big of an economic or military threat, view China more favorably and were actually for the use of force should the Chinese and a U.S. Asian ally became entangled in a military conflict, a Pew Research Center poll released Tuesday morning showed.

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The poll came as President Donald Trump prepared to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida beginning Thursday. Each leader was likely hoping to assuage economic, territorial and diplomatic tensions.

Poll respondents, while showing deep political ties, did, however, express concerns over the loss of jobs to China as well as the U.S.’ deep trade deficit with Beijing and the Asian superpower’s environmental and human rights policies.

Overall, the poll results showed 44 percent of Americans had a favorable view of China, which was up from 37 percent last year. Many opinions on Chinese economic threats were also down compared to four years ago.

With that said, a majority of the country still had concerns, with 61 percent (compared to 78 percent in 2012) fretful over the trade deficit and 53 percent over the loss of jobs to China.

Pew indicated that the improvement in Americans' mood about the economy overall could have played a significant role in their fresher attitudes towards China. Almost six-in-10 Americans, or 58 percent, categorized the economy as either very good or somewhat good, a massive jump from 44 percent last year and only 40 percent in 2015.

Trump, whose job approval rating reached a new low last week, had received high marks for his handling of the economy despite the scandals and his failure to repeal and replace Obamacare late last month.

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A slight majority of Americans, 52 percent, did view China as more of an economic threat than a military one and were willing to stick up for an Asian ally like Japan or South Korea no their political affiliation. Only 36 percent of those polled viewed China as a military threat, but 58 percent overall would help an ally against China, including 65 percent of Republicans and 62 percent of independents.

Democrats were also willing to step in for an ally with 52 percent for compared to 39 percent against.

The poll’s results drew from 1,505 people ages 18 and above and it was conducted by telephone from Feb. 16 to March 15.