US voters show bipartisan concern over Chinese government influence Poll

Concern among Americans about China‘s influence over the U.S. government, media and culture is widespread in Democratic and Republican communities, although Republicans are more wary than Democrats and independents of Beijing’s sway, according to a new poll.

Some 92% of Republicans harbor concerns about the Chinese government’s influence in the United States, compared to 71% of Democrats and 79% of independents, the July 12-13 poll of more than 1,000 likely 2022 election voters found.

The survey was carried out by the Trafalgar Group, a nationally recognized polling and marketing firm, in partnership with the conservative nonprofit group Convention of States Action, which circulated the results to news outlets this week.

In releasing the figures, Convention of States Action President Mark Meckler accused the Chinese government of engaging in a “decades-long covert strategy to undermine the United States.”

He also accused mainstream U.S. media of ignoring Beijing’s activities, asserting that “the only people who might be surprised by [the poll results] are members of the propaganda press and their allies in Washington, DC, who have worked tirelessly to convince us that Russia is the real threat.”

“Our fight is not with each other, our fight is with the evil communists in China who have snuffed out the light of freedom in their own land, and are now spreading their Great Totalitarian Reset around the globe,” Mr. Meckler said in a statement.

Chinese officials are sharply critical of such characterizations and assert that Beijing’s foreign policy, including the billions of dollars China has pumped into its Belt and Road international infrastructure initiatives in recent years, is benevolent and designed to help poorer nations develop economically.

The Biden administration’s posture toward Beijing has remained guarded. The administration has largely picked up where the former Trump administration left off in trying to draw attention to threats posed by an increasingly powerful and militarily aggressive, communist-ruled Chinese government.

A core aspect of the approach by both administrations has been to promote greater cohesion among Asia’s most powerful democracies â€" the so-called Quad countries of India, Japan, Australia and the U.S. â€" as a buffer to China‘s rising geopolitical influence.

The effort has widespread political support in Washington, where the Pentagon has spent more than a decade warning of expanding great power competition between the U.S. and China, as well as Russia.

But the issue of Chinese government influence over the U.S. media and government is more elusive and complex, with Congress struggling to pass coherent legislation in recent years to confront China-backed cyber and hacking operations against American interests and monitor the flow of Chinese government-connected money into U.S. civil society institutions, including universities.

The recent poll results suggest Americans are increasingly concerned about such dynamics.

Roughly 51% of American voters surveyed â€" regardless of party affiliation â€" said they are “very concerned” about China’s influence over our government, media, and culture.

Some 18.7% said they are “somewhat concerned,” while 11.5% said they are just “concerned” and 18.9% said they are “not concerned.”

Among Democratic voters surveyed, 39.4% said they are “very concerned,” while 71.6% of Republican voters surveyed said they are “very concerned.”

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