New Poll Shows Clear Majority of Americans Blame Trump for Higher Prices, Hail Supreme Court Tariff Ruling

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

The Supreme Court of the United States struck down President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Friday, and a new poll taken in the hours after the decision shows a clear majority of Americans are happy about that, blaming the president’s tariffs for higher prices of consumer goods.

In a 6-3 ruling released Friday morning, Chief Justice John Roberts was joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, with Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh dissenting. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett are all Trump appointees.

The opinion declared that the emergency powers granted to the president under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not include imposing tariffs.

Trump, predictably, was furious about the ruling, vociferously bashing the justices — even the ones he appointed — and insisting he still could impose tariffs without Congress.

Friday evening, he did just that, announcing in a Truth Social post that he was imposing “a Global 10% Tariff on all Countries, which will be effective almost immediately.”

The president might have been well served to have reviewed the latest polling on the issue, conducted by YouGov in the hours after the Supreme Court opinion was posted — especially with the upcoming midterms and control of the House and Senate hanging in the balance.

In a survey of 1,931 U.S. adults, 60% said they approved of the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down Trump’s tariffs (43% strongly approved and 17% somewhat approved), 23% disapproved (9% somewhat disapproved and 14% somewhat disapproved), and 17% were not sure.

Image via YouGov.

Broken down by partisan affiliation, Democrats had the most favorable views of the opinion (88% approve, 6% disapprove, 6% not sure). A majority of Independents approved of the opinion as well (63% approve, 16% disapprove, 21% not sure).

GOP campaign consultants may find the Republican responses worrying, with over half saying they approved of the ruling or weren’t sure (30% approve, 47% disapprove, 23% not sure).

Image via YouGov.

YouGov also asked respondents if they thought “tariffs imposed by Donald Trump increased, decreased, or had no effect on the prices you paid for things that you bought?”

The majority (66%) of Americans believe Trump’s tariffs increased prices, with 41% saying they caused prices to increase a lot and 25% saying they caused prices to increase slightly. Only 5% thought the tariffs made prices decrease (3% say decreased slightly, 2% decreased a lot), 16% said the tariffs had no effect, and 12% were not sure.

Image via YouGov.

The partisan breakdown for this question was similar, with a strong majority of Democrats (88%) and Independents (68%) saying Trump’s tariffs made prices increase — including a whopping 67% of Democrats and 44% of Independents who said the president’s tariffs made prices increase “a lot.”

For Republicans, 44% said the tariffs made prices increase (13% increase a lot, 31% increase slightly), 28% said no effect, 10% said decrease, and 17% were not sure.

Image via YouGov.

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