Majority of Americans say tariffs hurt their family's financial situation, are spending more on groceries and utilities: Poll
Most Americans say they are spending more on groceries and utilities and say tariffs hurt inflation, the economy and their own financial situations, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.
As inflation climbs, about 7 in 10 Americans say they are spending more money on groceries compared to last year and about 6 in 10 say they are spending more on utilities. Another roughly 4 in 10 say they are spending more on health care, housing and gasoline than they were last year.
Majorities of Democrats (89%), independents (73%) and Republicans (52%) say they are spending more money on groceries this year. More Democrats than independents or Republicans say they are spending more on all categories measured.
Women are also more likely than men to say they are spending more on each category this year over last.
President Donald Trump has imposed steep tariffs on foreign countries in his second term as president, and on Wednesday, his use of emergency powers to impose tariffs will be heard by the Supreme Court. Overall, 65% of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling tariffs, including 96% of Democrats, 72% of independents and 29% of Republicans.
Over 6 in 10 Americans say that the U.S. imposing tariffs hurts inflation in this country, while about 6 in 10 say it also hurts the countries the U.S. imposes tariffs on and the U.S. economy. A 55% majority say tariffs hurt their own family's financial situation.
A plurality says that tariffs hurt U.S. manufacturing companies (45%) and people getting jobs in the U.S. (42%).
Much larger shares of Democrats than independents or Republicans say that tariffs hurt each of the groups measured, while majorities of independents say tariffs hurt inflation (68%), the U.S. economy (64%), countries the U.S. imposes tariffs on (62%) and their own family's financial situation (59%). About half of independents say tariffs hurt manufacturing companies in the U.S. (49%) and a 46% plurality say they hurt U.S. job seekers.
A majority of Republicans say that tariffs help U.S. companies that manufacture goods (56%) and roughly half say they help the U.S. economy overall and job seekers (49% each.)
A plurality of Republicans say tariffs have "no real impact" on their family's financial situation (39%) while a 46% plurality says they hurt the countries the U.S. imposes tariffs on and a 35% plurality of Republicans say tariffs worsen inflation in the country.
Methodology -- This ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll was conducted online via the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel® Oct. 24-28, 2025, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 2,725 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points, including the design effect. Error margins are larger for subgroups. The partisan divisions are 28% Democrats, 31% Republicans and 41% independents or something else.
See more details on ABC News’s survey methodology here.
