As a result, the survey finds that low-income residents and people in inland regions showed much greater increases in satisfaction than high-income residents and those living along China's eastern coastline.

Both findings are far stronger at the local level, which researchers said makes sense because it is local governments that are primarily responsible for basic services.

The responses from survey participants in rural areas surprised the researchers, according to the Harvard Gazette report.

"We did not anticipate how quickly both low-income citizens and people from less-developed regions in China closed the satisfaction gap with high-income citizens and people from the coastal areas," it quoted Cunningham as saying.

'Positive direction'

These findings suggest that, far from representing a "dangerous undercurrent" of social and political resentment, China's poorer residents feel that government is increasingly effective at delivering basic healthcare, welfare and other public services, noted the report.

"Ultimately, while Chinese citizens still identify significant problems such as persistent income inequality and job insecurity, the majority believe that things are moving in a positive direction and credit the government for improvements in their material well-being," it said.

As to public opinion on corruption, Chinese citizens were generally supportive of the country's anti-corruption efforts, the Harvard survey finds. While just 35.5 percent of respondents approved of government efforts to fight corruption in 2011, that figure had jumped to 71.5 percent by 2016, according to the survey.

"Even on the issue of the environment, where many citizens expressed dissatisfaction, the majority of respondents expected conditions to improve over the next several years," the report said.

Interestingly, the survey found that three-quarters of Chinese respondents believe that climate change is real and caused by human behavior, and nearly 70 percent support enacting a nationwide emissions tax, far higher percentages than found in the US.

In conclusion, the Harvard survey said that for each of the key policy areas, China's poorer, noncoastal residents expressed equal, if not even greater, confidence in the actions of government than more privileged residents.

"Our survey shows that, across a wide variety of metrics, by 2016 the Chinese government was more popular than at any point during the previous two decades," it said.

The survey noted that citizens' perceptions of governmental performance correlate most to real, measurable changes in individuals' material well-being, and that satisfaction and support must be consistently reinforced.

This could be a "double-edged sword" for governments at all levels, it added.