Republicans are Defining Domestic Politics on China

[Celerity]

https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/republicans-are-defining-domestic



Political professionals know that clarity beats muddle in terms of public messaging. If one party has more intensity and unity of purpose on a particular issue, then their point of view is likely to dominate political discourse and debate on that issue.

Think of Democratic dominance on health care. Democratic voters and leaders uniformly see health care as a fundamental human right and have banded together over many years—despite some policy differences internally—to protect the Affordable Care Act. In contrast, Republicans may not have liked the Obama health care plan when it was passed, but they never agreed on an alternative replacement and failed to mount a successful counterattack as the legislation took hold with the public. Independents tend to side with Democrats on health care so the party’s political control of the health care issue has been solidified.

On the matter of countering China, however, Republican determination and framing of the issue may soon overwhelm Democratic confusion and lack of clarity about what to do in response to China’s rise. For starters, the views of both Republican voters and leaders on China have hardened noticeably in the past few years. Consider new data from Gallup showing a dramatic increase in the percentage of Americans viewing China as America’s greatest enemy. In 2018, only 11 percent of Americans said that China was our greatest enemy, compared to 51 percent who said North Korea. By February 2023, 50 percent of all Americans list China as our greatest enemy.



How did this shift occur? Looking at partisan trends on this question, at least 7 in 10 Republicans have listed China as America’s greatest enemy in each of the past three years—hitting a high of 76 percent in 2023. The inverse is true for Democrats: in each of the past five years, Democrats have named Russia as America’s greatest enemy with 53 percent saying so in 2023. The rub of it comes with independent voters. A strong plurality of independents, 46 percent, echo Republicans in viewing China as our greatest enemy, with Russia coming in second at 32 percent. Near uniform concerns about China as our enemy among Republicans and many independents, along with 3 in 10 Democrats, has produced the overall spike in worries about China.





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