Americans find North Korea, Russia – not China – least favorable rival nations: Poll

More Americans view Russia and North Korea unfavorably than China, according to a new Gallup survey.

The survey started Feb. 1, roughly four days after a China surveillance ballon was spotted over the western U.S. It concluded  Feb. 23, apparently before or at about the time Congress was briefed on classified intelligence that reportedly showed COVID-19 likely leaked from a virology lab in Wuhan, China.

In the survey, over 1,000 U.S. adults were asked about their opinions on 21 foreign countries.

Ninety percent viewed Russia mostly or very unfavorably, and 89% had the same opinion on North Korea. However, 9% of respondents said they viewed Russia and North Korea as very or mostly favorable.

China came in third place for un-favorability, with 84% of respondents saying they had unfavorable views of the communist country and 15% held favorable opinions, the same percentage who said they viewed Afghanistan and Iran favorably. 

When broken down by political party, Republicans were more likely to view Russia favorably by four percentage points while Democrats had more favorable views of Iran by seven points, China by ten points and North Korea by two points.

Other polls have indicated that Americans view China as the greatest threat to the United States.

For example, state officials have warned about Chinese purchases of U.S. farmland posing an espionage threat to military bases. 

The poll's margin of error was 4%.