Across the arc of recent years, American public sentiment toward China has quietly turned a corner. Polling data from late 2026 reveals a meaningful rise in favorable views — a shift shaped not by any single event, but by the slow work of time, the visibility of technological achievement, and the accumulated fatigue of trade conflict. As President Trump prepares to meet with Xi Jinping, he does so against a backdrop that is, for the first time in years, more open to the possibility of repair than to the certainty of rivalry.