As U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet in the U.S. on Friday and Saturday, Gallup data collected in the U.S. and China since 2006 reveal the particular strengths and weaknesses of each leader's country.

Americans are more likely to believe that top officials in the IRS, as well as in the Obama administration, knew the IRS was targeting conservative groups, than to say awareness was limited to the branch office where it occurred.

Americans reported spending more in May than they have at any time since October 2008. Spending is up across income groups.

Americans view China as more friendly than unfriendly, with 55% saying it is either an ally (11%) or friendly to the U.S. but not an ally (44%), and 40% saying it is either unfriendly to the U.S. (26%) or an enemy of it (14%).

The U.S. Payroll to Population employment rate (P2P), as measured by Gallup, worsened in May, dropping to 43.9%. Gallup's unadjusted unemployment rate for the U.S. workforce rose to 7.9%.

More Americans now say the city or area where they live is getting better -- 61.9% -- than have at any time since January 2008. City optimism is up across all regions and is highest in the South.