Survey: Many Germans believe China will overtake US as world superpower

Is the US losing its standing as a world superpower? Plenty of people in Germany seem to think so, according to a new survey. 

USA slipping in world standing, Germans say

42 percent of people in Germany believe that China will replace the US as the leading world power over the next 50 years, a survey from the UK-based polling institute YouGov has shown.

When asked the question, “Which country, the US or China, will be more powerful in the course of the next 50 years, in your opinion?” just 14 percent of respondents believed that the US would retain its world standing. 23 percent said that neither country would be the most powerful, while 22 percent were unsure or gave no answer. 

Left supporters dismiss USA's future dominance

Answers varied according to the respondents’ political affiliations. Supporters of the Greens (52 percent), Left (54 percent) and Free Democrats (52 percent) were more likely to predict China’s future dominance, while supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) were the most likely to plump for the US, although even here, the proportion was just 17 percent. 

Left supporters, in particular, were the most dismissive of the idea of America retaining its world standing, with just 6 percent of respondents predicting that the US would remain a dominant world power. 

While opinion on the US’s future standing was pretty equally split between men and women, more men than women chose China as the future superpower (50 percent versus 34 percent). More women than men said that they were not sure (29 percent versus 14 percent). 

The survey was conducted between July 10 and 12, using a representative sample of 4.504 people aged 18 and over.