Americans are bracing for tariffs – here’s what they’re stocking up on

The Ipsos Consumer Tracker asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.

Why we asked about tariffs: Regardless of what people know about tariffs, they still have opinions.

What we found: In our last issue, we asked people a quiz question about how tariffs work and found that 45% understood how tariffs work — meaning that 55% didn’t get the question right. In this wave, we ask directly, and two-thirds say that they think tariffs will raise prices on the goods they buy. Democrats are quite a bit more likely to say that than Republicans (86% vs 49%) When we asked if that was impacting their spending, however, a majority (56%) say “no for the most part.”

But some are. 26% say they are planning to buy electronics. 13% say they want to get a new automobile, 15% say they want a large appliances or furniture, 20% say home improvement or building materials (think of Canadian lumber mixed with deportations in the construction industry). And in advance of tariffs potentially on Denmark, which could impact medications like Ozempic, 17% of people say they are stocking up on meds. We will likely know a lot more about this in the coming days.

Speaking of, have you read our take on the new Trump administration’s potential impacts on business?

More insights from this wave of the Ipsos Consumer Tracker:

Home, office or hybrid? How Americans want to work is slowly shifting

More people want brands to stay out of political and social issues

New signs show Americans are worried about budgets

Here's what Americans actually did during the holidays

The Ipsos Care-o-Meter: What does America know about vs. what does America care about

Americans think 2025 will be a pretty flat year