New Marquette Law School national survey finds public skeptical of tariffs and inflation trends, but increasingly positive on the nation’s direction
Large majority oppose Canada becoming 51st state and oppose abolishing Department of Education, while support for deportations remains strong Also: Public views Russia, China negatively; Canada, Ukraine positively Trump job approval dips slightly since January, majorities disapprove of Musk Disapproval of Democratic Party and Democrats in Congress has increased and is stronger than disapproval of Republicans Partisan differences remain strong on almost every issue MILWAUKEE – In the run up to threatened new tariffs, a new Marquette Law School Poll national survey finds 58% of adults think tariffs hurt the U.S. economy, while 28% say tariffs help the economy and 14% say they don’t make much difference. Slightly more than half of Republicans, 52%, think tariffs help the economy, but 58% of independents say they hurt the economy, as do 89% of Democrats. The public is increasingly skeptical of how the economy will fare, in terms of inflation, in response to President Donald Trump’s policies generally. A majority of adults, 58%, think Trump’s policies will increase inflation, 30% think his policies will decrease inflation, and 12% think they will have no effect on inflation. Among Republicans, 62% think the policies will decrease inflation, a decline from 70% in late January and from 76% in December. Only 16% of independents think inflation will decrease, compared to 26% in January and 28% in December. Ninety-two percent of Democrats say Trump’s policies will increase inflation, an increase from 85% who said that in January and 82% in December. Trump’s national job approval declined slightly in this late March survey to 46%, with 54% disapproval. In January, 48% approved and 52% disapproved. Trump continues to enjoy high approval among Republicans, 87%, hardly changed from 89% in January. His approval has slipped somewhat among independents, to 32%, down from 37%. Approval among Democrats is 10% in March compared to 9% in January. Approval of how Elon Musk is handling his work in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) stands at 41%, with disapproval at 58%. Musk’s personal favorability is 38%, with 60% unfavorable. The survey was conducted March 17-27, 2025, interviewing 1,021 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of +/-3.5 percentage points. Across lines of race, education, and gender, more people think tariffs will hurt rather than help the economy. The sole exception is white, non-college-educated men, one of Trump’s strongest supporting groups with 67% reporting having voted for Trump in November. Among this core of Trump’s support, 44% say tariffs help the economy and 40% say they hurt the economy. Among all other categories of race, education, and gender, more think the economy will be hurt rather than helped, as shown in Table 1. Large majorities of college-educated white people of either sex and all categories of non-white people expect damage to the economy. A plurality of non-college white women agree, though a quarter don’t think there will be much of an effect. Table 1: Effect of tariffs on the economy, by race, education and gender Among adults Effect of tariffsRace, education, genderHelps…