The opinions in the above chart are based on survey data from the Pew Research Center. The rating is from 0 (very unfavorable) to 100 (very favorable). The center has not come out with 2020 data yet and also did not have data for China from 2017-2019, so the above chart took the average of previous years and applied that to the last three years for China’s opinion of the USA. However, it is acknowledged that given recent Chinese criticism of the USA, opinions have most likely gone down. Regardless, when looking at the great power competition through the lens of Thucydides's Trap, the most important opinion is the current #1 power’s opinion (in this case the USA) because it is its fear that sparks conflict in an attempt to stop the rising power (in this case China).
A few possible reasons for the decline in the US's opinion of China are as follows: