In our latest survey for Winning the Issues (April 8-10), we looked at where people were in determining their views about tariffs. As the global markets have been in chaos, have voters already formed conclusions about the efficacy of tariffs, or are they still evaluating?
Among the overall electorate, views are already taking shape that tariffs will have a negative impact on the economy. A majority of the electorate believes tariffs will hurt (54%) rather than help (19%) with 24% saying it is too early to tell.
Republicans are taking a more optimistic view. For a large portion of Republicans, the impact of tariffs is too early to tell (40%) with a similar percentage thinking they will help (39%) rather than hurt (17%). But the rest of the country is already forming conclusions about the impact of tariffs. Independents tend to think tariffs will hurt (58%) rather than help (12%) with only 25% saying it is too early to tell. Democrats are overwhelmingly of the view that tariffs hurt the economy (88%).
In terms of the time needed to restore retirement savings lost in the recent market decline, Republicans see a shorter term hit compared to the rest of the electorate. Almost 1 out of 2 Republicans (48%) think retirement savings will be recovered by the end of the year but with a significant percentage that don’t know (25%).
Independents are more mixed in their perceptions of how long it will take. Only 22% think it will happen by the end of the year with the remainder envisioning a longer timeframe (45% next year/2 years or longer/never), and a third (33%) that don’t know.
Compared to other groups, Republicans are exhibiting more patience in making a judgment, but independents are already moving in a negative direction on their views about this policy approach. Going into the 2026 midterm elections, Republicans need to take note as independents will be the key group especially in states like Maine and North Carolina.
