Earlier this month, President Biden issued an executive order to regulate high-tech U.S. investments in China. Polling by the Economist/YouGov finds that a majority of Americans (69%) strongly or somewhat approve of a ban on such investments. Just 10% strongly or somewhat oppose one. Majorities of Democrats (81%), Independents (60%), and Republicans (66%) support the executive order.
One potential driver of bipartisan support around Biden's executive order is concern about technological competition with China. Three in four Americans (73%) say China poses at least a somewhat serious technological threat to the U.S. And, more say China poses an immediate and serious technological threat (35%) than say it poses an immediate and serious economic (28%) or military threat (23%). Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to perceive various significant threats coming from China.
The parties are also divided on the U.S.'s relationship with China. Among Democrats, 39% advocate for closer ties with China, while only 19% of Republicans share this view. Conversely, a more distant relationship is favored by 47% of Republicans, compared to just 16% of Democrats.
— Kathy Frankovic, Matthew Smith, and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the toplines and crosstabs from the Economist/YouGov poll conducted on August 19 - 22, 2023 among 1,500 U.S. adult citizens.
Methodology: Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel using sample matching. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3%.
Image: Unsplash (Alexandre Debiève)
