A lost 1981 Iowa Poll asked respondents whether they favored or opposed import restrictions on cars. Interested in whether opinions on this issue are different today, IPOL recently placed the same question on the March 2026 U.S. national survey. Specifically, respondents were again asked “Do you favor or oppose restricting the number of cars that foreign manufacturers can sell in the United States?” The results show a substantial drop in support for such restrictions.

Respondents in 2026 mostly either opposed restricting foreign car sales (39.9%) or had no opinion (35.6%). Those who were in favor of restricting car sales made up the smallest percentage of responses (25.5%). This is a striking difference from the same question asked to Iowans in 1981 on Iowa Poll #248, which produced a similar proportion that were opposed (38.6%), but a much greater level of support such that a majority (54.0%) was in favor of restrictions on foreign cars. This jump in support is countered by a much lower percentage of respondents who said they had no opinion (7.4%). 

Support for restricting foreign car sales was broad across party lines in the 1981 poll, as Democrats (56.7%), Republicans (51.4%), and Independents (54.8%) fared relatively similar in their responses, indicating bipartisan support. When re-asked this question in 2026, responses were strikingly different. A plurality of Republicans favored restricting foreign car sales (40.1%) while a majority of Democrats (52.7%) opposed such measures, and a strong percentage of Independents (44.5%) responded similarly to Democrats. While this indicates a shift in party polarization, responses to those who had no opinion on the matter ran similar to the overall percentage of respondents who answered “No opinion.”

Iowa Poll #248, conducted by the Des Moines Register, was administered to a random sample of Iowans in April 1981 and includes 1011 responses. We re-ran these questions by placing them on a national survey of U.S. adults fielded from February 27 to March 5, 2026 that yielded 1000 responses. Responses for 2026 data are weighted by age, race/ethnicity, sex, income, education, region, metropolitan status, and partisanship to be nationally representative. Support for 2026 data collection was provided by the Center for Social Science Innovation at the University of Iowa through its Survey Harvest program.