PAI Poll: 82% Say Retailers Exploiting Tariffs to Hike Prices

An overwhelming majority of American voters say that retailers are exploiting President Donald Trump's tariffs in the same way they took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to raise prices unnecessarily, according to a newly released Protecting America Initiative poll.

The survey, which was conducted among likely general election voters, found that 82% say retailers are using tariffs as an excuse to justify price hikes, while 84% say they believe retailers engaged in price gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another 81% said that the unfair price manipulation they are experiencing is a result of digital price tags.

According to the poll, more than a majority supports the president's tariffs, but want state policymakers and officials to create and enforce strong price-gouging laws and hold retailers accountable for predatory price increases. An 83% majority of those surveyed said state lawmakers need to step up to stop retail price gouging because of the current gridlock on Capitol Hill.

A full 80% say they support mandating price transparency through state legislation that would require companies to justify price hikes around market shocks, while 77% say they support legislation that would require retailers to disclose the markup they charge on products purchased with SNAP benefits.

Nearly 7 in 10 say they support state laws to limit the use of digital price tags, and 76% say they support governors declaring states of emergency and enforcing price-gouging laws.

Those polled made it "abundantly clear" that they were concerned about China's growing efforts to control U.S. supply chains, with 81% of respondents saying they think China's increasing control over American supply chains poses a national security threat.

The survey also found a high level of concern among voters about China's influence over the food and medical supply chains in the United States. Seventy-seven percent of voters agreed that all agricultural crops and inputs should be produced domestically in order to ensure the highest safety standards. A 71% majority of respondents expressed concern when told that 15% of all medical devices marketed in the U.S. – including MRI machines and surgical devices – are manufactured in China.

According to the poll, 67% of voters say they want tariffs and financial penalties imposed on food supply imports from China to incentivize domestic production. Streamlining the regulatory process was also backed by voters as a way to provide more protection to domestic food suppliers. To that end, 74% say they support one uniform federal standard for regulating agricultural products, rather than a patchwork of different state regulations, and 53% say they believe agricultural products should be regulated solely by American law instead of by the World Health Organization.

The poll was conducted Aug. 16-18 and surveyed 1,000 likely general election voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.