“Americans’ views of China have rarely been positive over the past four decades, but they have never held the country in lower regard than they do today,” Jeffrey Jones, senior editor at Gallup, wrote on its website. “With the two nations embroiled in a major trade battle, among other issues, Americans are likely to continue to view China unfavourably until tensions subside on some fronts.”

The rivalry between Beijing and Washington has intensified over the past year, with a prolonged trade war, disputes over technology and intellectual property, and frictions with ideology and competing interests in the Indo-Pacific region.

In 2001, Gallup said China had fallen in US public opinion in the 1990s after Tiananmen Square and a Senate investigation into illegal Chinese activities in the US, including the theft of missile technology and illicit political contributions – which Beijing denied.

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Gallup’s poll found that more Americans viewed the US as the world’s leading economic power, at 50 per cent, compared to China at 39 per cent. This reflected a widening gap since 2016, when China was regarded by Americans as the world’s economic power by a 13-point margin.

“As the US economy continued its expansion in recent years, China still led, though by smaller margins,” Jones said. “Now, with Americans’ economic confidence the best it’s been in two decades, they once again believe the US is the leading economic power.”

“While many Americans may not see China as an imminent military threat to the US, some combination of its economic power, military strength, and controversial policies compel about one in five US adults to consider it their country’s greatest enemy today, on par with Russia and Iran,” Jones said.

There were significant partisan differences among Americans, with those identifying as Republicans and independents more likely to perceive China as the US’ greatest enemy at 31 and 23 per cent respectively compared to Democrats, with 12 per cent. Democrats were overwhelmingly more inclined to see Russia as the US’ top adversary at 43 per cent, compared to Republicans at 9 per cent.

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Similarly, Democrats typically had a more positive view of China, with 35 per cent rating the country favourably compared to 23 per cent of Republicans. The US under President Donald Trump, a Republican, has taken a more hardline approach to Beijing, including challenges to the Chinese government on long-standing trade practices and sanctions on Chinese companies for their role in Xinjiang, where at least one million ethnic Uygurs were estimated to be imprisoned in what Beijing called re-education camps.