Who is Googling Trump’s tariffs—And why that matters

This study investigates U.S. public concern over tariffs during the initial three months of Donald Trump’s second term. By analyzing state-level Google search frequency for the topic ‘tariff’, it explores whether tariff-related anxiety was uniformly distributed across states or influenced by political affiliation. The data reveal widespread political polarization: states that supported Kamala Harris exhibited significantly higher search intensity compared to states that supported Trump. These findings suggest that voters in Harris-leaning states were more alarmed by the potential economic consequences of Trump’s trade policies, highlighting both the politicization of trade policy and its varying resonance across the political spectrum. • We measure public concern about tariffs across U.S. states using Google searches. • Our analysis focuses on the first three months of Trump’s second term. • Concern for tariffs decreases as state-level support for Trump increases.