Trump voters are prepared to trust him on tariffs — but there are signs of cracks in the coalition
As President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plans sent stocks tumbling and economists warning of a broader economic slowdown, many of Trump’s supporters say they support the move as part of a broader vision for the U.S. economy, even if prices rise.
As President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plans sent stocks tumbling and economists warning of a broader economic slowdown, many of Trump’s supporters say they support the move as part of a broader vision for the U.S. economy, even if prices rise.
But a slice of 2024 Trump voters are deeply concerned, illustrating the real potential political peril for the president and his party.
In interviews, 20 swing-state Trump voters who participated in last month’s national NBC News poll spoke about Trump and his tariffs after the president's policy announcement last week. Most are either fully on board with Trump’s vision — with many explicitly saying they are willing to live through short-term economic pain if it means achieving his vision of reordering the global economy to America’s benefit — or are cautiously optimistic that the tariffs will be effective negotiating tools.
Veronica Rogers, a retiree in Georgia, was among those who said that Trump’s long-term goals of bringing back jobs to the United States outweigh her concerns about temporary higher prices.
“Whether that’d be short term, or that’d be long term, I don’t know. I’m not an economist. But I do know that there’s billions and trillions of dollars that can be spent here to build industry to keep from paying tariffs. So, that sounds good to me,” she said. She was stunned that some people were taken aback by the scale of Trump’s tariffs, noting how frequently he talked about tariffs while campaigning.
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