This study examines potential variations in everyday Chinese citizens’ support for two prevailing economic governance forms in contemporary China: the regulatory and statist approaches. Leveraging the Chinese Citizens Expectations of the State Survey, it argues that the current support for either forms of economic governance fall within a distinct societal cleavage between regime insiders and outsiders. The study suggests that there is widespread support for a regulatory governance approach across the general public, irrespective of the insider and outsider dualism. However, support for a statist governance approach is much stronger amongst regime insiders, whom exhibit a skepticism of domestic privately owned firms. Furthermore, support for the statist governance approach is stronger amongst older age segments of the population and weaker with the more highly educated. These findings provide insights into potential social divisions over the role of the state in governing the economy. More broadly, the findings speak to the efficacy of popular legitimacy strategies for the Communist Party of China.