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Poll shows Americans think less of China after spy plane incident

(WASHINGTON) -- The U.S. public's views of China have significantly worsened in the wake of the spy plane incident, but Americans aren't less likely to buy goods manufactured in China as a result of the standoff over the 24 U.S. crew members, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found.

The poll, conducted from April 20-22, gathered opinions from 1,015 adult Americans.

The public approves of how Bush handled the situation and thinks the U.S. was the winner of the crisis by a 2-to-1 margin, according to poll results.

With the crew members back home, the public is less concerned about the surveillance plane still in Chinese hands. A majority feels that getting back the surveillance plane from China is less important to most Americans than maintaining relations with that country. Nonetheless, those relations are strained.

The number of Americans polled who see China as an ally has dropped from a majority in March, 2000, to just 27 percent today. A quarter of the respondents consider China an enemy and a majority think that the 2008 Summer Olympic Games should not be held in China.

The sampling error of the poll was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll

Opinion of China

Ally          5%
Friendly     22%
Unfriendly   44%
Enemy        25%


Opinion of China Now 2000 Ally/friendly 27% 51% Unfriendly/enemy 69% 43%
Did the spy plane incident make you less likely to buy Chinese goods? Yes 34% No 64%
Which is more important? Getting plane back 37% Maintaining relations with China 59%
Should China host Olympics in 2008? Yes 40% No 52%
How Bush handled spy plane incident Approve 71% Disapprove 25%
Who was the winner in spy plane incident? U.S. 48% China 24%


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