Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden (archive photo)

The Wall Street Journal reported that the first major national-security survey conducted since the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan, showed that the majority of Americans consider China to be the country's number one enemy, while their confidence in the US military has fallen to its lowest level in three years.

For the first time since the Ronald Reagan Foundation and Institute began surveying Americans on national security four years ago, a majority of Americans — 52 percent — described China as the country that poses the greatest threat to the US, up from 21 percent four years ago.

Russia came in second at 14% representing a shift from three years ago when 30% of Americans considered Russia the greatest threat, while China came in second at the time at 21%.

According to the survey, 37% of Americans believe East Asia is the region to which the US should devote the majority of its military forces, with the "Middle East" coming in second at 17%.

2,523 Americans were surveyed

Beacon Research surveyed 2,523 Americans via phone and online between October 25 and November 7. The survey's margin of error was 1.96 percentage points, according to the results revealed on Wednesday.

The survey also revealed a shift in public opinion toward the military in the United States.

According to the survey, 45% of Americans have a "great deal" of trust in the military, down from 70% three years ago, and 10% of respondents indicated they had "not much" trust in the military, up from 2%.

Perception that the military has become politicized

The US military was deployed on American streets multiple times in recent years, including during protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the unrest at Capitol Hill on January 6. Roger Zakheim, director of the Reagan Institute, believes that this has led to the perception that the military has become politicized.

Despite the fact that the survey did not link the withdrawal from Afghanistan to a loss of faith in the military, respondents thought the war has affected US national security.

According to the survey, 59% of Americans believe the war was "mostly a failure," compared to 50% in February 2021. President Biden was blamed by almost half of the respondents (49%) for the "botched U.S. withdrawal," while 20% believed there was weak military planning.