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Updated on Jun 3, 2025
Updates monthly

Tracking U.S. Consumers' Views on Tariffs

A comprehensive look at U.S. consumers’ attitudes, including topline support, inflation expectations, spending behavior, corporate messaging and political sentiment
The share of U.S. consumers who say they are spending more or less on purchases in each of the following categories because of tariff-related price increases:
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Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,200 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

While the details have changed quickly, President Trump has made tariffs a centerpiece of his administration’s policy toolkit, creating risks for U.S. consumers and companies alike. This tracker uses proprietary Morning Consult survey data to comprehensively monitor U.S. consumers’ attitudes surrounding the tariffs, including awareness and support, inflation expectations and spending behavior, and corporate blame. The tracker updates monthly. The latest data comes from a survey conducted May 8-13, 2025, among roughly 2,200 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

Key Takeaways

  • Overall support for tariffs among U.S. adults has declined since the start of the Trump administration, while awareness of both tariffs in general and of specific U.S. tariff proposals has grown.

  • Most U.S. consumers believe companies will pass on 50%-100% of the cost of the Trump tariffs to them and are especially worried about the prices of essential goods like groceries, gas and automobiles. Ahead of the reciprocal tariffs’ anticipated July 9 implementation deadline, many consumers have already altered their behavior to undertake more DIY projects, delay large purchases and seek additional work.  

  • Unsurprisingly, consumers would prefer companies to follow Trump’s directive and “eat the tariffs.” But short of that, clear consumer-facing communication such as itemization of tariff-related surcharges and relaying corporate cost mitigation efforts are popular.

  • Republicans are a risky group for U.S. companies struggling to navigate rising tariff-related costs, as they continue to think that large corporations benefit from tariffs and are less likely than other Americans to blame the Trump administration for price increases they attribute to tariffs.

Data Downloads

Pro+ subscribers are able to download the datasets that underpin Morning Consult Pro's reports and analysis. Contact us to get access.

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A trended, sortable XLSX data file covering public opinion on tariffs in the United States. Currently available for May, 2025.
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Data dashboard
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Excel Dashboard Interactive charts in xlsx format. Currently available for May, 2025.
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Tariff timeline

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Approval & Awareness

U.S. consumers’ approval of tariffs

Net approval by generation, income and political affiliation
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“Net approval” is the share of each demographic who say they approve of tariffs minus the share who disapprove.
Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

U.S. consumers' awareness of tariffs

The share of U.S. adults who say they have seen, read, or heard “a lot” or “some” about tariffs or tariff proposals recently
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Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

 

Economic Impact & Cost Pass-Through

U.S. consumers' views of tariffs' effects on the economy

The share of U.S. consumers who believe U.S. tariffs have been good or bad for the economy
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Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

U.S. consumers' views of tariffs' effects on their household finances

The share of U.S. consumers who believe U.S. tariffs have been good or bad for their household finances
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Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

U.S. consumers' tariff concerns

The share of U.S. consumers who say they are concerned about each of the following due to tariffs:
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Shares for "Not concerned" and "not too concerned" are not displayed.

Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

U.S. consumers’ expectations that companies will pass along tariff costs

The share of U.S. consumers who believe companies will pass on the costs of tariffs
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Shares for "Don't know/No opinion" are not shown.

Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

U.S. consumers' expectations for how much of the tariffs' costs U.S. companies will pass on

The share of U.S. consumers who say companies will pass along the following percentages of tariff-related costs:
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Responses are assessed among those who said they expect tariffs to cause inflation.
Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

 

Inflation & Consumer Spending

U.S. consumers' tariff-driven inflation perceptions

The share of U.S. consumers noticing higher prices for select categories due to tariffs
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Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

Category-level changes in U.S. consumption due to tariffs

The share of U.S. consumers who say they are spending more or less on purchases in each of the following categories because of tariff-related price increases:
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Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,200 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

Actions U.S. consumers say they are taking in response to tariffs

The share of U.S. consumers who say they are taking or considering taking each of the following actions in response to tariffs:
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Shares for "I have not done this and do not plan to do this" and "Don't know/ No opinion" are not shown.

Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,200 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

The amount by which U.S. consumers estimate the tariffs increased their household’s expenses in the preceding month

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Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,200 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

How U.S. consumers say their savings will change

The share of U.S. consumers in each of the following demographic groups who say they will save more or less because of tariffs:
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Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,200 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

 

Perceptions of Corporate Responses

U.S. consumers’ perceptions of American companies’ responses to the tariffs

Shares of U.S. consumers who say U.S. companies should “definitely” take each of the following actions:

Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

U.S. consumers’ preferred corporate responses to tariffs

Shares of U.S. consumers who say U.S. companies should “definitely” take each of the following actions:
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Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

 

Attributing Blame

U.S. consumers’ views on who benefits from tariffs by political affiliation

Shares of U.S. consumers who say tariffs will help minus the share who say they would hurt each of the following groups:
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Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

U.S. consumers’ views on who benefits from tariffs, trended

Shares of U.S. consumers who say tariffs will help minus the share who say they would hurt each of the following groups:
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Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with margins of error of +/-2 percentage points.

Whom U.S. consumers blame for inflation they attribute to tariffs

Shares of U.S. consumers by political affiliation who say each of the following is “very responsible” for inflation they attribute to tariffs:
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Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

Methodology

All survey data presented in this tracker was collected through Morning Consult’s proprietary survey research capabilities. All survey interviews are conducted online. Data is weighted to approximate representative samples of U.S. adults.

The most recent survey was conducted May 8-13, 2025, among roughly 2,200 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

 

About Morning Consult

Morning Consult is a global decision intelligence company changing how modern leaders make smarter, faster, better decisions. The company pairs its proprietary high-frequency data with applied artificial intelligence to better inform decisions on what people think and how they will act. Learn more at morningconsult.com.

Email [email protected] to speak with a member of the Morning Consult team.

 

Sonnet Frisbie
Deputy Head of Political Intelligence

Sonnet Frisbie is the deputy head of political intelligence and leads Morning Consult’s geopolitical risk offering for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining Morning Consult, Sonnet spent over a decade at the U.S. State Department specializing in issues at the intersection of economics, commerce and political risk in Iraq, Central Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. She holds an MPP from the University of Chicago.

Follow her on Twitter @sonnetfrisbie. Interested in connecting with Sonnet to discuss her analysis or for a media engagement or speaking opportunity? Email [email protected].

Amy He
Head of Industry Analysis

Amy He leads Industry Analysis at Morning Consult. Prior to joining Morning Consult, Amy served as the executive editor at eMarketer, and was a China reporter for many years. She graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and East Asian studies. For speaking opportunities and booking requests, please email [email protected].

Deni Koenhemsi
Head of Economic Analysis

Deni Koenhemsi leads Economic Analysis at Morning Consult. Previously, she was a senior associate at S&P Global, where she managed a team of economists, forecasted commodity prices and advised Fortune 500 companies on their procurement and planning decisions. She received a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Richmond and a master’s degree in international economics from American University. For speaking opportunities and booking requests, please email [email protected]