New Delhi: More than 50 percent of Indians — more than the figure for a number of NATO member states — consider the US to be the leading economic power in the world rather than China, according to a data essay by American think tank Pew Research Center.
Published Monday, the data essay looks at differences in views about China and the US on more than 10 different measures among respondents in 24 countries.
The data essay analysed surveys conducted by Pew and published earlier this year as well as in 2021. The two surveys mentioned in the essay were ‘International Views of Biden and US Largely Positive’, published in June 2023, and ‘China’s Approach to Foreign Policy Gets Largely Negative Reviews in 24-Country Survey’, published in July 2023.
People from the following countries were looked at in the data essay: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the US and the UK.
As many as 53 percent of Indian respondents believe the US is the leading economic power in the world while only 14 percent view China the same way, which is a difference of 39 percentage points — one of the largest differences in views noted in the analysis within a middle-income nation.
More respondents in Italy, Germany, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands and Australia, all of whom are considered traditional allies of the US via NATO and AUKUS (Australia, UK and US), believe China is the leading economic power in the world rather than the US.
In the UK and France, two countries that have been allies of the US for nearly a century, there is little difference in views between and within the two nations. The percentage of British respondents who believe the US was the leading economic power is the same as that for China (40 percent). The number is 43 percent each in France.
Indians are also one of two middle-income demographic groups (the other being Indonesians) where more respondents say US technology is above average or the best in comparison to Chinese technology.
In India, 61 percent of respondents hold the view that American technology is above average or the best, in comparison to 48 percent who believe the same of Chinese technology.
As many as 64 percent of Indians also believe that US President Joe Biden would do the right thing regarding world affairs, whereas the figure is 32 percent for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Opinion skews toward the US most heavily in the high-income countries surveyed, with differences of 50 percentage points or more in favour of the US in Poland, Japan and South Korea,” noted the data essay.
“In most middle-income countries surveyed, views of both powers are generally positive, leading to a smaller difference in views,” it added.
Respondents in Nigeria were found to have extremely favourable views towards both the US and China but more Nigerians view Beijing favourably than Washington D.C. — 80 percent to 74 percent, a difference of 6 percentage points in favour of China.
Nigeria and Kenya are the only two countries where respondents hold a more favourable view on China than the US. Respondents from the other 22 countries generally view the US more favourably.
An earlier survey by Pew had found that 59 percent of people in 23 countries viewed the US favourably. From India, 65 percent of respondents viewed the US favourably in comparison to only 26 percent who viewed China favourably.
Also Read: From lows of 1970s to ‘defining’ partnership — a look at India-US ties & trade over the decades
Leading economic power & technological prowess
Respondents in six of the 24 countries analysed in the data essay believe that China is the leading economic power of the world in comparison to the US. Of the six, five nations are in Europe and one in Oceania. All six countries are considered high-income by Pew Research.
In the eight middle-income countries (as highlighted by Pew), all respondents view the US as the leading economic power in the world.
In both Argentina and South Africa, 37 percent of respondents view the US as the leading economic power in comparison to 33 percent who view China as such, a difference of 4 percentage points in favour of the US.
The largest difference in views among middle-income countries was seen in India, where a difference of 39 percentage points was in favour of Washington D.C.
However, more respondents in 14 countries viewed Chinese technology as above average or the best in comparison to US technology.
The biggest difference was noted in Argentina, where 77 percent of respondents hold the view that Chinese technology is above average or the best in comparison to 53 percent of Argentinians who said the same about US technology, a difference of 24 percentage points in favour of China.
Interestingly, up to 66 percent of American respondents said Chinese technology was above average or the best in comparison to 56 percent of Americans who held the same view about US technology.
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping
Respondents from 23 countries (excluding the US) are nearly three times more likely to have confidence in President Joe Biden of the US over President Xi Jinping of China. The median across the 23 countries stands at 54 percent having confidence in Biden, and 19 percent in Xi.
However, differences in confidence levels among middle-income countries for the two leaders was not as wide as that in high-income countries. For example, 40 percent of Indonesians expressed confidence in Biden, while 39 percent expressed confidence in Xi — a difference of a single percentage point. In Kenya, the difference was five percentage points.
The largest difference was seen in Poland, where 83 percent of respondents expressed confidence in Biden and only 8 percent in Xi, a difference of 75 percentage points.
In almost every other measure — military, education, entertainment, standards of living and personal freedoms — views skewed positively in favour of the US.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: 40% of Americans haven’t heard of Modi, 37% have ‘little or no confidence’ in him, finds Pew survey