Basic Attitudes Toward Tariffs

Key Point Summary

Americans are generally more negative than positive about tariffs, but levels of opposition vary depending on how the concept is framed and what contingencies are specified in question wording.

Bottom line: Americans are skeptical of tariffs, but that opposition is nuanced and varies depending on how tariffs are explained.

Availability of Data and Confidence in Conclusions

This assessment draws on 39 unique questions from 8 nationally representative surveys conducted between February 2024 and March 2026, with a total sample size of approximately 48,900. Questions on attitudes toward tariffs represent the largest evidence base in this report. There are two independent tracking series with consistent wording across multiple waves, supporting confident conclusions about the direction and stability of public opinion. The main limitation is meaningful variation in measured support levels depending on whether tariffs are attributed to President Trump and whether a midpoint response option is offered. These wording effects are real but do not undermine the core findings.

Overall Confidence: GOOD.

Policy Implications

Policymakers in favor of tariffs face an uphill battle, as Americans in general are more opposed than in favor of tariffs.

Detailed Discussion

Most Americans oppose tariffs, though the level of opposition varies considerably depending on how questions are framed.

Three surveys conducted in 2026 show opposition or disapproval of tariffs ranging between 55% and 61%. [1, 2, 3]

Across more than 20 surveys conducted in 2025, all show majority or plurality opposition to tariffs, with a wide range in the specific level of opposition depending on question wording and framing.

The majority of the questions asked in 2025 are general in nature and do not include specific percentage values. Some of these reference President Trump's connection to tariffs and others do not. Some questions provide an explicit "don't know" option, while others do not. Other questions asked if tariffs were a good idea, "even if prices increase".

Across these questions, as noted, Americans are more opposed than in favor, with gaps in the negative direction (that is, the percentage opposing minus the percentage in favor) ranging from a low of -9% to a high of -25% points. [4, 5] In absolute terms, the disapproval rates are as high as 60% and 61% in response to some questions [6, 7], ranging down to the low 40% range for questions that allow respondents to say they don't have an opinion. [8] Even in the latter case, however, opposition is higher than support. The most common response pattern is opposition to tariffs in the 50% range.

Some questions explicitly connected the tariffs to President Trump, but there are no obvious differences compared to other polls that did not reference Trump. Without controlled experimental testing, it is impossible to determine any significant effect of the Trump connection.

Two questions asked in 2025 were more specific in detailing the specifics of the tariffs. One mentioned 10% "on all United States trading partners," and the other 25% tariffs on "all cars and trucks outside of the U.S." Both questions produced relatively high opposition levels (57% and 61% respectively), not out of line with other question responses that did not mention these specifics. [9, 10]

Questions asked in 2024 (prior to the Trump-imposed tariffs) showed a more mixed pattern of responses. One question asked in October 2024— "Raising import taxes on goods imported from other countries"—produced an anomalous response of 58% support, the only such question reviewed showing majority support. [11] Another 2024 question asking about a 20% increase in tariffs found 48% to 40% favor over opposition. [12] Three other 2024 questions show more negative than positive responses, in line with 2025 and 2026 results although with a lower gap between opposition and support. [13, 14, 15]

Bottom line: Americans are, overall, opposed to tariffs, with such opposition mostly in the majority, usually in the 50% range. As would be expected, opinions vary somewhat depending on how tariffs are explained in question wording.

Impact of Question Wording and Other Survey Factors

As was the case for measuring Americans' attitudes towards foreign trade, opinions about tariffs vary depending on how the concept is explained in question wording. The general tilt of opinion is negative, but the degree of that negativity displays significant variation.

There is no common standard in how tariffs are defined for survey respondents. Examples of ways in which researchers have explained the concept include:

  • Tariffs on goods imported from most countries that trade with the U.S.
  • Tariffs on products imported from other countries
  • New tariffs; or taxes
  • Tariffs: which are a type of tax; on imported goods from most countries
  • A tariff; also known as an import tax; on all goods brought into the United States from other countries
  • A tariff; also known as an import tax; on all goods brought into the United States from other countries
  • Tariffs on goods imported from most countries that trade with the United States?

Other survey questions add in specific contingencies or context, including:

  • Tariffs imposed by Donald Trump
  • New tariffs of at least 10%/25% on all of the United States' trading partners
  • Countries that take advantage of the U.S. should be punished by having their exports made more expensive through tariffs
  • Taxing imports through tariffs is good policy to help U.S. factories even if the taxes cause a recession
  • Higher tariffs on imported goods even if prices increase
  • President Trump's plan to place tariffs on goods that are imported from other countries
  • Across-the-board 10% tariff on all imported goods
  • A tariff of up to 20% on all imported goods

In an ideal world, controlled experimental research would describe the exact impact of these differences in question wording, and that in turn would be a valuable tool to use in better understanding public opinion on this important topic. Such experimental research is not available at this time. This provides the basis for a cautionary note. Researchers presenting the results of surveys asking the public about tariffs should provide the explicit wording used when they present results, and, where possible, put results in the context of other findings using different wordings.

But, with these cautions taken into account, the relative robustness of responses across wording differences is remarkable and provides the basis for a well-supported generalization about public opinion, namely that Americans tilt more towards opposition than towards support for tariffs.

Trends Over Time

The most informative trend data on basic tariff attitudes comes from two tracking series.

  • One series, which asked about imposing an import tariff on all goods across four waves from January to October 2025, shows a notable pattern. Opposition peaked in April 2025 (the month of the tariff announcements), at 52% [5], and then softened to 41% by July 2025 as more respondents moved to the "neither" midpoint (29%). [8] By October 2025, opposition had risen to 46%. [17] Favorability changed little across the full period: 29% in January [16] and 28% in October [17]. The pattern suggests an initial spike of negative reaction to the tariff announcements that waned over time, though without any real growth in positivity.
  • Another tracking series, which asked about approval of the Trump administration substantially increasing tariffs, shows stability. Among national adults, disapproval held at 60% to 61% across three waves from April 2025 to January 2026, with approval similarly flat at 38% to 39%. [6, 7, 2] There is no evidence of meaningful change in either direction over these nine months.
  • Another series, with two data points in April 2025 and January 2026, also shows essentially no change among registered voters (40% support/55% opposition followed by 38% support/55% opposition). [18, 1]

Citations

  1. Siena College/New York Times. (2026). Toplines: January 2026 Times/Siena National Poll of Registered Voters. Fielded 1/12/26–1/17/26.
  2. Pew Research Center. (2026). 2026 Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel Wave 185 Politics January Survey. Fielded 1/20/26–1/26/26.
  3. Fox News/Beacon Research/Shaw & Company Research. (2026). Fox News Poll. Fielded 2/28/26–3/2/26.
  4. Reuters/Ipsos. (2025). Reuters/Ipsos Issues Survey April 2025. Fielded 4/16/25–4/21/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  5. Associated Press/NORC at the University of Chicago/AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (2025). Most Americans expect higher prices as a result of Trump's tariffs. Fielded 4/17/25–4/21/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  6. Pew Research Center/SSRS. (2025). Trump's Job Rating Drops, Key Policies Draw Majority Disapproval as He Nears 100 Days. Fielded 4/7/25–4/13/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  7. Pew Research Center/SSRS. (2025). Trump's Tariffs and 'One Big Beautiful Bill' Face More Opposition Than Support as His Job Rating Slips. Fielded 8/4/25–8/10/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  8. Associated Press/NORC at the University of Chicago/AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (2025). Younger adults are less engaged with U.S. politics. Fielded 7/10/25–7/14/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  9. Reuters/Ipsos. (2025). Most Americans say prices will increase due to tariffs. Fielded 4/4/25–4/6/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  10. Reuters/Ipsos. (2025). Most Americans say prices will increase due to tariffs. Fielded 4/4/25–4/6/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  11. ABC News/Ipsos. (2024). Economic discontent, issue divisions add up to tight presidential contest. Fielded 10/4/24–10/8/24. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  12. Wall Street Journal/NORC at the University of Chicago. (2024). National Multimodal Survey. Fielded 8/24/24–8/28/24.
  13. Wall Street Journal/NORC at the University of Chicago. (2024). National Multimodal Survey. Fielded 2/21/24–2/28/24.
  14. Scripps News/Ipsos. (2024). Few Americans support pardoning January 6th protestors, restricting women from combat. Fielded 11/15/24–11/17/24. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  15. Reuters/Ipsos. (2024). Reuters/Ipsos Issues Survey. Fielded 12/5/24–12/10/24. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  16. Associated Press/AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (2025). Many Americans doubt Trump will be able to lower prices in his first year. Fielded 1/9/25–1/13/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  17. Associated Press/NORC at the University of Chicago/AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (2025). Few people support the daylight saving time system, and more want year-round light in the evenings. Fielded 10/9/25–10/13/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  18. Siena College/New York Times. (2025). Toplines: April 2025 Times/Siena Poll of Registered Voters Nationwide. Fielded 4/21/25–4/24/25.

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