SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly half of Utahns are less likely to make a major purchase like buying a new home this year due to President Donald Trump's tariff policy, according to the latest Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll.

The poll found 49% of Utahns are hesitating when it comes to spending significant sums of money as a result of the president's ever-changing added costs on imported goods that have roiled financial markets since being announced earlier this year.

At the same time, 40% said Trump's policy hasn't changed their plans. And another 11% said they're even more likely now to spend big this year.

The poll was conducted for the Deseret News and the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics by HarrisX, May 16-21, of 805 registered Utah voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The results show Utahns share similar feelings as Americans around the country when it comes to the effect of the new tariffs on their decision-making about buying homes, cars or other costly items.

A nationwide poll conducted shortly after Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement in April for Redfin, the nation's largest brokerage website, found a majority of Americans, 55%, were less likely to make those expensive expenditures.

Hinckley Institute of Politics Director Jason Perry said Utahns are paying attention to the impact the tariffs are having on the economy, even though they may not be feeling the effects as strongly as other parts of the country.

"Nearly half of Utahns say they're putting off a major purchase this year, which is a sizable group but slightly below the national average. Utah's broad, resilient economy and overall high quality of life may be insulating residents from some of the economic pressures felt elsewhere," he said.

Perry pointed out Utahns are divided over some of the president's actions. The same poll found 50% of Utahns back how Trump has handled tariffs, while 44% are opposed, while on inflation, they're split over whether it's better, worse or the same since the president took office.

The pause many Utahns are putting on major purchases is also telling.

"This hesitancy could reflect growing concern, as Trump earns his lowest marks in Utah on his handling of tariffs and inflation," Perry said. "Utahns appear to be watching these policies closely and weighing their personal risk."

The question in the Utah poll was the same asked in the poll for Redfin: "To what extent, if any, does President Trump's tariff policy affect your likelihood of making a major purchase, such as a car or a home, this year?"

The nationwide poll also identified 31% Americans as saying they were not changing their plans to buy this year based on the tariffs, fewer than the Utah poll found. And nationally, slightly more Americans, 13%, said they were more likely to make a big purchase.

Stephanie Taylor, the Utah Association of Realtors' incoming president, said no one is raising concerns about tariffs to her.

"I work with multiple homebuilders and buyers and sellers, and I don't hear that," the Ogden-based agent said. "We definitely hear that there's some uncertainty in our world, or people are uncertain about what the market is going to do."

Buyers may be looking around for a better deal or unwilling to spend beyond the lower limits of their price range but aren't postponing their purchases, Taylor said, describing them as "choosing to be more particular."

Whether or not there's a lot of buyer hesitancy in Utah isn't something she could address.

"Record inflation and interest rates can make it difficult for the average family to buy a home. I can't speak to how many people may or may not be waiting in the wings, not buying, because of tariffs or market uncertainty, because those aren't the people I'm talking to," Taylor said.

Buying a home is always a big decision, she said.

"I think that the market can be scary. But I think that's been the case all 18 years that I've been in this business. It's just that the uncertainty shifts," Taylor said, adding that current headlines "that scare people might give them a little bit of extra pause."