A new concern has appeared on a list of the top problems facing the state, a survey of Washington adults shows.
In a question asking what the most important problem facing the state is, no single problem came anywhere close to reaching a majority among respondents. And most of the top problems identified by respondents are ones we’ve seen on previous surveys that ask Washingtonians this question.
But there is something new in the latest survey: For the first time, tariffs appeared among the state’s top problems.
Portland-based DHM Research conducted the online survey of 500 Washington adults from April 16-20 to assess the overall mood and outlook of state residents.
Respondents were asked to share what they felt was the most important problem facing Washington today. Researchers categorized responses by 21 types of problems. If a response touched on more than one type of problem, it was counted in more than one category.
Taxes/tariffs ranked as the No. 2 response statewide, identified as Washington’s biggest problem by 17% of respondents. Taxes alone have been on the list before — in July 2024, 7% of respondents identified this as the state’s top problem — but tariffs are new.
It’s somewhat surprising to see a national issue like tariffs identified as one of the state’s most important problems. But this is undoubtedly a response to the steep protective tariffs recently enacted by President Donald Trump, which public opinion polling shows are not popular among the majority of Americans.
The survey shows a gender gap when it comes to this issue, with 22% of men believing taxes/tariffs were the state’s top problem, compared with 12% of women. Taxes/tariffs were the top response among men. Among women, homelessness/poverty was No. 1, identified as the state’s biggest problem by 23%.
Older adults were also a lot more likely to see taxes/tariffs as the top problem — it was identified as such by 29% of those 65 and older — compared with younger folks. Among those under 30, just 4% said taxes/tariffs were the biggest problem.
But there were no significant differences by income, race/ethnicity or educational attainment. And roughly the same percentage of adults who live in the Seattle area identified taxes/tariffs as the most important problem as residents in the rest of Washington.
That was not true of the No. 1 problem, homelessness/poverty, which was a much bigger problem for residents in the Seattle area than the rest of the state.
Statewide, homelessness/poverty was identified as the top problem by 20% of respondents.
Homelessness/poverty is a long-standing issue in Washington, and it has been the top concern statewide in previous surveys by DHM. For example, in July, DHM asked the same question in a survey, and homelessness/poverty was also the No. 1 response, identified as the state’s top problem by 25% of respondents.
In King County, homelessness/poverty was easily the No. 1 response, identified as the state’s top problem by 25% of respondents. It was also No. 1 in the Puget Sound area, outside of King County, at 27%.
But in the rest of Western Washington, homelessness/poverty was identified as the state’s most important problem by just 15%, and in Eastern Washington, only by 11% of respondents.
The cost of living/inflation is another problem that typically ranks near the top of the list in these surveys, and it came in third this time, identified as the state’s biggest problem by 16% of respondents.
DHM surveyed a representative sample of Washington voters and weighted the data to accurately reflect the population based on political affiliation as well as area of the state, age, gender, race, income and education. The margin of error for this survey is plus or minus 4.4%.
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