Amid the ongoing trade battles between the U.S. and China, Americans’ overall negative perception of China has sharply increased, but less so among young people.

According to a new poll conducted by Pew Research Center, 60 percent of Americans view China unfavorably, a steep increase from the 47 percent recorded in 2018.

“I side with the Chinese, I don’t think it’s propaganda"

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The poll surveyed 1,503 total adults and found that younger Americans tend to have less negative views of China than do older Americans. Young Americans are also less likely to view China’s economic and military growth as concerns for the U.S. and less likely to view the U.S. as the leading economic power.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans between the ages of 30 and 49 and 67 percent of Americans 50 or older hold unfavorable views of China, while less than half (49 percent) of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 hold an unfavorable view of the communist country.

Additionally, young Americans are more likely than their older counterparts (56 percent vs. 47 percent) to see positives in the rapid growth of China’s economy.

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Young Americans are also more likely than older generations of Americans to claim that China is the world’s leading economic power. Thirty-seven percent of people between the ages of 18 and 29 say China is the leading economic power, while only 27 percent of people older than 50 hold that same belief.

During the past year, the U.S. and China have been engaging in a trade war with escalating tariffs on both sides. The U.S. is currently taxing over $250 billion of Chinese goods.

Controversy has also arisen regarding China’s potential threat to national security, with college campuses housing Confucius Institutes -- structures that serve as Chinese culture and language hubs for American universities but have received criticism from U.S. intelligence agencies due to their connections with the Communist Party in China.

[RELATED: Students siding with communist China is what happens when they're taught to oppose Trump 'no matter what' (VIDEO)]

In a video that Campus Reform previously published, students said that they trust the communist Chinese government over the Trump administration and U.S. intelligence.

“I side with the Chinese, I don’t think it’s propaganda,” one student told Campus Reform in the video.

Another student added, “I don’t know anything about the Chinese government to know if they have a reputation for honesty or dishonesty, but I know enough about Trump to know he has a reputation for dishonesty.”

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @ethanycai