The majority of respondents in the latest Marquette University Law School Poll say tariffs hurt the economy, though the survey illustrates the partisan divide on the issue.
Among all adults in the recent national poll, 59% said tariffs hurt the economy, 28% said they help the economy and 12% said they don’t make much of a difference. Marquette University says the public “remains skeptical” about the benefits of enacting tariffs on products imported to the United States.
But 58% of Republican respondents said they help, while 28% said they hurt the economy and 14% were indifferent. Democrats were much more unified on the issue, with 91% saying they hurt the economy, just 4% saying they help and 5% saying it doesn’t make a difference.
Meanwhile, 60% of independents said tariffs hurt the economy, 12% said they help and 28% said they don’t make a difference.
Respondents were also asked how they think the Trump administration’s policies will affect inflation, which was rated as the most important issue facing the country by about a third of those surveyed.
Across all respondents, 28% said the administration’s policies will lead to lower inflation, 60% said they will increase inflation and 12% said they will have no effect.
As with tariffs, most Republicans side with President Donald Trump on the issue, with 55% saying his policies will decrease inflation, 26% saying they’ll increase inflation and 19% predicting no effect.
Among Democrats, 91% expect Trump’s policies will lead to higher inflation, 4% expect them to reduce inflation and 5% expect them to have no effect. And 70% of independents said they’ll increase inflation, 17% said they’d decrease inflation and 13% said they’ll have no effect.
The survey also found respondents’ financial situations have been “relatively stable” so far this year, with 35% living comfortably, 47% just getting by and 18% struggling. Those percentages are largely unchanged from the three previous polls.
The latest poll was conducted July 7-16 through online interviews using SSRS Opinion Panel with 1,005 adults across the country. The margin for error is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
See the full results.
