How Young Consumers Feel About Tariffs

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Welcome to Morning Consult’s From A to Gen Z newsletter. We put the headlines you’re reading about Gen Alpha, Gen Z and millennials into context with our high-frequency survey data to help you better understand exactly how and why they’re spending their time — and their dollars. 

Last week, we launched our newest tracker, offering a comprehensive look at U.S. consumers’ attitudes toward the Trump administration’s tariffs, including topline awareness and support, inflation expectations and spending behavior, and corporate blame. Today, we’re taking a deep dive into this data to answer an important question: How are young people feeling about — and responding to — all of this?

👎👎 Young consumers are least supportive of tariffs 👎👎

Gen Z adults and millennials are — and have been — among the least supportive of tariffs, with the former being especially so. As of May 2025, Gen Z adults’ net approval of tariffs (the share who say they approve of tariffs minus the share who disapprove) was -22, nearly 20 points lower than millennials’ (-5).

That said, support for tariffs has declined among every generation (and all U.S. adults more broadly) since the start of the second Trump administration. 

▶️ Check out our tariff tracker in its entirety here.  

🤑🤑 Despite lower tariff support, young people feel less pessimistic about their finances than their older counterparts 🤑🤑

In our latest round of surveys, approximately 2 in 5 Gen Z adults and millennials said they believe tariffs have been “somewhat” or “very” bad for their household finances, notably less than the shares of Gen Xers (51%) and baby boomers (61%) who said the same.

The same pattern holds true regarding consumers’ views on how tariffs are impacting the economy at large; young people are less likely than older people to believe that the economic policy is having wide-ranging negative effects.

The resilience of young consumers’ sentiment may likely be a symptom of youthful optimism (or naivete, depending on your outlook).

▶️ To learn more about the data that powers this research, reach out to your Morning Consult contact or email [email protected]. 

🤞🤞 Most young consumers believe companies won’t pass the cost of tariffs onto them 🤞🤞

Gen Z and millennial optimism also extends to corporate blame — at least for now. In general, young people are less likely than their older counterparts to believe that companies will pass on the cost of tariffs to consumers. 

That said, brands should still be weary: Morning Consult research consistently shows that younger consumers are among the most likely (alongside Democrats and high-earners) to take punitive action against companies. Plus, with artificial intelligence threatening to wipe out early career gigs, Gen Zers may simply not have as much disposable income as previous generations moving forward. 

▶️ Morning Consult tracks many other economic indicators, including U.S. and global consumer confidence.   

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Upcoming

June 18 — Report: The State of Disloyalty. This report explores the impact of increasing financial pressure on consumers' brand relationships, who holds grudges and why, and what can boost customer loyalty. Once it’s published, you’ll be able to find it here.