Respondents were asked whether they had a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable opinion of each superpower.

The research center found that in 25 of the 36 countries, more people held favorable opinions of China than the United States.

It’s the first time the center, which has been tracking global sentiments toward superpowers since 2002, has seen such a result in so many countries, according to Jonathan Schulman, one of the study’s researchers.

Pew has seen previous declines in positive views of the United States: in 2008, at the end of George Bush’s administration, and in 2017, at the beginning of Trump’s first term.

Even then, however, favorable views of China tended to be the same or slightly lower, Schulman told the BBC.

Spain, Indonesia, Italy, Greece and Canada were among the countries that experienced the biggest shifts toward China.

Only six countries in this year’s survey still favor the United States more, most of which are staunch US allies: Poland, the Philippines, South Korea, India, Japan and Israel.

Furthermore, the center found that average favorable opinion of the United States in 20 countries had steadily declined in recent years, while average favorable opinion of China had been increasing.