Recently, the Pew Research Center in the United States conducted another public opinion survey on China's favorability. The sample data showed that most Americans have a "negative view" of China. This survey was also widely reported by the American media. However, as the so-called public opinion surveys in the United States are increasingly politicized and instrumentalized, perhaps people should ask before believing them: Is this the real social situation and public opinion, or is it helping some American politicians to "mislead" public opinion?

In theory, public opinion polls are a means of relatively objectively understanding the public's views on a certain issue based on sample data. However, a careful study of the reports of several well-known American polling organizations will reveal that their poll results are basically divided by ideology. As long as it involves issues such as international image, human rights, international relations, and systems, non-Western countries, including China, are always more negative than positive. American polling organizations represented by the Pew Research Center closely follow the US government's foreign policy, carefully design poll topics, and manipulate poll results under the banner of "objectivity". In fact, they have become an important tool for the United States to "mislead" international public opinion.

As the United States intensifies its efforts to suppress and contain China, polling organizations such as Pew and Gallup meet the diplomatic needs of the US government and create favorable public opinion for US hegemony, including frequently launching polls targeting China to guide the public to have a wrong perception of China. For example, when American politicians frequently smear China in Africa, Pacific island countries and other places, trying to provoke relations between these countries and China, the Pew Research Center "timely" released a survey report titled "Americans believe that US aid to developing countries is more beneficial than China's aid." In another survey comparing investments from the United States and China, the result is that most Americans believe that US overseas investment is beneficial to the local area, while China's overseas investment brings harm to the local area. In essence, it is to cooperate with the United States to exaggerate the false narrative of the so-called "debt trap" of China.

In general, there are three common routines used by some US polling organizations:

The first and most commonly used method is to select poll subjects in a targeted manner. For example, in Pew's annual Global Opinion Survey, of the 24 countries to which the questionnaire was distributed, 16 were developed countries, almost all of which were allies of the United States, and only 8 were developing countries. In the Middle East, an important region, China has a positive image, but only Israel, an ally of the United States, was selected. This kind of sample selection has obvious bias, making it difficult to reflect the objective balance of the survey data, and the results are naturally unconvincing.

The second important means is agenda setting. International surveys conducted by US polling organizations have a clear political tendency. In recent years, polls targeting China have increased significantly. Most Americans lack understanding of China, which provides polling organizations with room to manipulate public opinion. The questions they design are often highly misleading, and respondents are likely to answer questions according to their design ideas, thus getting the answers they want.

The third important means is to interpret poll results in a biased way. For example, Pew released a poll result in July last year, and the title and introduction deliberately highlighted the respondents' negative views on China in a certain aspect. In fact, the results of many sub-items in this survey showed that the respondents' views on China were positive or very positive. For example, more than half of the respondents believed that China's technological progress was very good, and 40% of the respondents in developing countries believed that China's technological progress was the best in the world. In terms of economy, most people in the six developing countries surveyed believed that their countries benefited from China's investment. In Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, this figure exceeded 70%. However, these sub-level contents that are conducive to forming a comprehensive understanding are often deliberately ignored in news reports.

It can be seen that the behavior of American polling agencies in cooperating with politicians to smear China has seriously misled the public, which not only damaged their business reputation built up over the years, but also had a negative impact on the development of Sino-US relations and people-to-people exchanges, and may even cause illusions and deviations among relevant US policymakers. The twists and turns in Sino-US relations over the years are certainly due to complex international political and economic factors, but the polling agencies are fanning the flames and setting the pace, which is worthy of vigilance.