Exclusive: Harris poll raises questions about the popularity of one of Trump’s key economic policy platforms
Summary
A Harris poll reveals that 69% of Americans believe Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs would increase consumer costs, with many planning purchases ahead of his inauguration to avoid price hikes.
Trump has championed tariffs as a key policy to boost domestic manufacturing, but economists and corporate leaders warn costs will be passed to consumers, potentially adding $2,600 annually to household expenses.
While Republicans are more supportive of tariffs, only 51% think they will benefit the economy.
The poll highlights widespread concern over tariffs’ economic impact, especially amid lingering inflation and financial uncertainty.
Electoral college was irrelevant this election. Trump won the popular vote because people don't think voting is important. Kamala Harris was a shit candidate, but Democratic voters weren't given a primary to pick a better one.
While the Electoral College did not directly factor into this election it could have indirectly factored in due to minority voters in solidly controlled states simply deciding not to vote due to their votes having no impact on the outcome. If for instance you were a Democrat in a state that Republicans have won by double digit percentages for the last couple decades you might rightly assume that whether you vote or not the outcome remains unchanged.
If we had a straight popular vote rather than the EC then literally every vote would count, unlike the current system where that's only true in battleground states. In this case the EC is just another in a long list of voter suppression tools.
Less than a third of eligible voters voted for him, so it tracks. Close to half the country not voting suggests they understand tariffs, but either just fine paying 20% extra for everything or don't believe he'll actually do the things he's been most vocal about doing.
It amazes me that Republicans can be supportive of what is a blatant tax grab by the federal government. Trump is basically saying "I'm going to add a federal sales tax on top of the majority of everything you buy to the tune of 25% or more. With China, a lot of that is manufactured consumer goods. But with Canada and Mexico, we're talking food products, automobiles, natural resources needed by American industries, etc.
I would guess your amazement is because GOP are understood to be in favor of small government, when actually they are favor of doing w/e the fuck they feel like to enrich themselves because their voter base is so fucking stupid they would vote for a rock if you said it would be thrown through a liberals window once elected.
My biggest concern is what will happen when the party that runs on christian nationalism and prejudice (redundant), that has majority control of the entire government, and is flush with tax revenue, is going to accomplish over the next 2-4 years...
I mean it's very simple. A tariff is what you pay the government to get stuff released from the port of entry.
You buy a $1000 DJI quadcopter that was manufactured in China, if Trump does his "60% on everything from China" tariff the US government says you have to pay them $600 or it goes back on the boat.
The complicated part of tarrifs is stuff like "are X-men action figures human or non-human toys" because those get different rates. Not what tariffs "are".
All quotes come directly from family that will be affected by Trump's shit. They couldn't care less though, because they believe the shit they say. They'll be fine, it's just everyone else that's fucked.
Tbf, I was very ignorant regarding tariffs as a young adult post highschool. But also, we have the Internet, and Google, and as of now we have fucking AI that can ELI5 literally any topic you are interested in knowing more about if you aren't an ignorant piece of shit. But here we are, America is full of ignorant pieces of shit. Shocker.
And most of them showed up and voted for Trump. 1/3rd of adults voting for fascism is all it takes to destroy a country when 70 million people stay home and don't vote
Yeah. It will probably suck for Canada too, but hopefully our government does the right thing and strengthens our ties with other markets in Europe, South America, and Asia. Really sucks how the past few years the Canadian government has torpedoed a lot of good international relations that would be really beneficial to have going into the Trump administration.
New cars coming from Canada or Mexico? 25% more expensive. American cars made final assembly in USA with tons of parts from Mexico/Canada will be $$ too. And about every piece of electronics 10% more expensive too.
Does Trump know that drugs like fentanyl is being made in USA? Does he thingk drug manufacturer/dealer all come from mexico/canada/china?
While I don’t quite believe this connection, I want to point out that legacy car manufacturers heavily depend on imports, especially from Canada and Mexico ….. but Tesla does not
It doesn't matter what they 'think'. Tariffs will fuck everything up for everyone involved. People's opinions on this mean nothing. It is like asking people if they think that being thrown into a deep body water with a heavy chain around around your feet will kill. The answer they give is irrelevant. That action will kill you because you will drown. End of discussion.
I love how people are debating this as if it's not a well understood concept. Can't wait till we get headlines like "1/4 of people belive a bullet to the head might possibly be fatal in some cases".
I like how the headline says 2/3 of Americans "think" tariffs will lead to higher prices. The other 1/3 aren't thinking at all.
Tariffs are passed on straight to the consumer and the main outcome is that Americans will need to pay more. Demand for products from other countries isn't going to suddenly disappear. Some things can't be easily made in the USA, and sometimes the items made overseas are a higher quality product.
It's like rebates - they very rarely benefit the consumer. Having a 30% rebate for solar panels is fine, but it means the prices are at least 30% higher than they should be, which is obvious if you compare US prices to European and Australian prices for identical systems.
The illegal tarrifs on Canadian softwood lumber raised the price of a single family home in the US by more than $10,000 while Canadian lumber companies enjoyed record profits because demand remained high. The tarrifs are intended to allow less cost effective American companies to charge more by making more cost effective foreign products more expensive. It's about raising prices.
Trump voters voted to pay more to make rich people richer.
I upgraded my GPU and bought a bunch of audio stuff that I was gonna wait to pull the trigger on til later. Not taking the chance of not being able to afford it later.
It doesn't matter what politicians we choose. It doesn't matter if the "pendulum swings back". We're stupid. Wherever the pendulum is, we're still stupid. So we're still going to trend downward, because that's the only direction a stupid society can go.
A Harris poll reveals that 69% of Americans believe Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs would increase consumer costs, with many planning purchases ahead of his inauguration to avoid price hikes.
I mean when they drew it up they showed commuter costs were up hundreds of dollars a piece. If he does what he says he was planning to do every company's IT budget is shot. If people thought they had old computers before, no chance they are getting upgraded if that happens. Instead of saying new laptops every 3-4 years and desktops 5 years they'll likely just switch back to desktops and say every 6 years, cutting out paying for docks/port replicators, and having more reasonsl to force users into office to get people to quit and cut payroll costs as well. Bottom line still goes up, CEO and stocks go up, quality of product/service... Goes down
Note obviously that cuts into the network infrastructure and all software licensing as well. You have to renew licenses, maybe can cut some cost if you cut staff, but it means forcing more users to cheaper software, and likely holding off all wireless access points upgrades/installs, new fiber runs etc
Tariffs are a necessary tool, and can be positive in the long run to create revenue and lower trade deficits. They are a regressive tax, but there is some positive to making some imported goods more expensive in the US. It does discourage companies from importing everything. In moderation targeted tariffs can be good.
The debt is projected to be $50 trillion by 2034, so revenue does need to be increased somehow. Otherwise on the current track the US will be unable to service it's debt.
Ideally they should just tax billionaires, but politically this is a lot easier for them.
The problem with tariffs is moreso on what they're going to do with the revenue. The surplus will almost assuredly be used to give tax cuts to the rich, and the debt will likely be $50 trillion by 2028, not 2034.
Otherwise on the current track the US will be unable to service it’s debt.
Not as long as virtually all commodities trade in USD and USD remains the world's reserve currency. I do get your broader point about any "revenue" raised by tariffs.
The next 4 years in the US are going to bring instability to the forefront.
US debt to GDP ratio is already an insane 120% . At some point along this path of ever increasing debt, people are going to see that USD is no longer safe and choose other currencies, or possibly crypto. Bank runs tend to happen all of a sudden when no one expects it. The same situation could theoretically happen in the US.
The reserve dominance shouldn't be relied upon when we could simply raise a small amount of revenue with taxes on the wealthy to balance the books.