TARIFF SENTIMENT TRACKER
Track consumer opinions on tariffs.
Numerator’s Tariff Sentiment tracker provides a bi-weekly pulse check on consumers’ tariff perspectives. Given the quick-changing nature of U.S. trade policy, timely insights into consumer opinions can help brands and retailers better understand concerns to anticipate behavioral shifts.
Latest Update: 6/2/2025
Tariff Awareness, Understanding & Support
Tariff awareness, understanding and support saw only minor changes between early May and late May, with awareness declining three points, understanding declining one point, and support increasing one point. In general, high income shoppers and older shoppers have higher levels of awareness and understanding regarding tariffs, and are also slightly more likely to support them. More U.S. consumers oppose tariffs than support, a trend that intensifies at the margins, with 28% who strongly oppose compared 13% who strongly support.
Awareness
79%
of consumers are aware of new or proposed tariffs on goods imported into the U.S.
-3 pts. vs. two weeks ago
Understanding
84%
of consumers have an understanding of what tariffs are and how they impact prices
-1 pt. vs. two weeks ago
Support
33%
of consumers generally support tariffs, while 43% oppose and 24% feel neutral.
+1 pt. vs. two weeks ago
Consumer Tariff Concerns
87% of consumers are concerned about the impact of tariffs on their personal finances or shopping habits, in line with early May. The top concerns all center around higher prices, both on everyday necessities and non-essential goods. Economic concerns like the stock market, impact on investments and the job market have all softened in the past two waves of our survey. Separately, over half (56%) of shoppers say they think tariffs will have a negative impact on the U.S. economy in the coming year, on par with the last wave of our survey.
Anticipated Response to Tariffs
82% of consumers expect to make adjustments to their finances or shopping habits in response to tariffs, in line with early May. Half say they’ll cut back spending on non-essentials, followed by looking for sales or coupons and delaying non-essential purchases. Cutting back on non-essential spending and purchasing fewer imported goods dipped back to late April levels.
About the tracker
Numerator’s Tariff Sentiment Tracker is powered by a custom Numerator survey fielded to 5,000 U.S. consumers every two weeks. Field dates and sample sizes for past waves are as follows:
- Wave 1: 4/23/2025 – 4/28/2025 (n=5,037)
- Wave 2: 5/6/2025 – 5/11/2025 (n= 5,080)
- Wave 3: 5/20/2025 – 5/27/2025 (n = 5,074)