Support for government in China: is the data accurate?

A wide range of public opinion surveys and studies over the past years have demonstrated that people in China tend to express strikingly strong support for their government and their political-economic system, much higher than in most other countries.

For instance, the World Values Survey consistently shows that over 90% of people in China report “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust in the national government. In 2018, the most recent wave, trust was at 94.6%, one of the highest levels in the world. This result is supported by the Asian Barometer Survey, which in 2015 found 86.7% of respondents in China had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust in the national government.

Similarly, Harvard’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance has conducted regular surveys on public opinion in China since 2003. It finds that, in the most recent year of data, satisfaction with the national government stood at 93%, having generally increased over time. Satisfaction with provincial governments was also high at 82%.

Next, the Danish NGO Alliance for Democracies publishes data on people’s perceptions of their political systems in over 50 countries. According to the most recent report (2024), people in China have positive views of their political system, with 91% saying that the government serves the interests of most people (rather than a small group), and 85% saying all people enjoy equal rights before the law, much higher than in the US, France and Britain.

Finally, a recent study published in the journal Political Psychology asked people in 42 countries whether they think their system is fair and just. They used the following questions: “In general, I find society to be fair”, “In general my country’s political system operates as it should”, “Everyone in my country has a fair shot at wealth and happiness”, and “My country’s society is set up so that people usually get what they deserve.” The results show that people in China are more likely to agree with these statements than any other country in the set.

These are all remarkable results. But skeptics have questioned the data, saying that respondents may overstate support for their government if they live in a system where they are likely to fear repression for expressing political dissent. In behavioural psychology, this is known as “strategic misreporting”. The Alliance for Democracies study is designed to avoid this bias, but other studies may be