As the US ­Presidential debates have highlighted, Americans are wary of China's growth and trade practices. That attitude could seriously backfire on the U.S. economy, contend researchers at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

A new survey by the firm has found that nearly half -- 46 percent -- of Americans believe China's growth will have a negative impact on the U.S. economy. Only 20 percent of Americans said they disagreed with this sentiment, and more than a third said they didn't have an opinion.

"Americans have been sold a bill of goods by their media and politicians, who have led them to believe China's growth is America's loss," said Michael J. Silverstein, a BCG senior partner and coauthor of the new book The $10 Trillion Prize: Captivating the Newly Affluent in China and India. "That's not the case. It's not a zero-sum game."

Silverstein contends that many Americans and American companies fail to appreciate that China represents the largest consumer-market growth opportunity in history. "Imagine 1.3 billion people with annual incomes rising from $4,000 to $12,000 over the next decade. They want brands, and they want our brands. The overwhelming China-bashing that Americans hear in the media needs to change if we are to realize this opportunity. We have the resources and intelligence to become China's largest trading partner and to capture the huge economic benefits that will flow from that."

The results of BCG's survey, which included 4,000 consumers in China, the U.S. and the U.K. and was fielded in August 2012, underscore the opportunity. Forty percent of Chinese consumers said they are planning to spend more money in the next 12 months than they did in the past 12, ensuring they will continue to be an engine of consumer expenditure for the global economy. This level is up from 36 percent in 2011 and 23 percent in 2010 -- despite the temporary slowdown in the Chinese economy. By contrast, only nine percent of U.S. and U.K. consumers in the 2012 survey said they are planning to spend more in the next year.

Notably, 80 percent of Chinese think their children will have a better life than they did, compared with just 24 percent in both the U.S. and U.K.

Thirty percent of U.K. consumers (compared with 46 percent of Americans, as mentioned above) said they believed China's growth will be bad for their economy, and 44 percent did not agree or disagree with that sentiment.