US Public Opinion On Great Power Peers

American Enterprise Institute cites an interesting Harris Interactive poll of American attitudes towards peer great powers:

A Harris Interactive poll taken in mid-October found much more concern among Americans about China than about India, Russia or Japan.

Forty-five percent said it was in the best interests of the U.S. for Russia to grow and prosper; 31 percent said we should be concerned about them. Respondents were split on those questions when asked about India: 39 percent and 35 percent, respectively.

But when asked about China, only 24 percent said we should want China to grow and prosper, compared to 58 percent who said we should be concerned about that prospect.

In another question, 70 percent said China would be a superpower in 10 years. By contrast, 41 percent felt that way about Japan, 20 percent felt so about India and 15 percent believed that about Russia.

And the poll found that a majority--52 percent--were “extremely” or “very” concerned about China becoming stronger than the U.S. militarily in 10 years. Another 21 percent said they were concerned about the prospect, while 27 percent said they were “somewhat” or “not at all” concerned.

In the meantime, an Oct. 12-13 Pew Research Center poll found that 16 percent described China as an adversary, 45 percent as a serious problem but not an adversary, and 30 percent as not much of a problem. Those numbers have been pretty consistent in eight other askings of the question since 1997.