SUN CITY, Ariz. — Susan Hemphill said she’s always been frugal with her spending. But the recent volatility in the stock market caused by President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs and an escalating trade war with China have made her even more cautious.

These days, Hemphill is staying closer to home in Sun City, Arizona, a 55-and-older community near Phoenix. No more day trips to Sedona, the retired union organizer said, fighting tears as she wondered aloud whether she could run out of money.

“I’m so tired of Trump playing with our lives,” said Hemphill, who voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in November. “I’m too old for this.”

Trump was elected with a promise to improve the economy, lower taxes and control inflation, addressing voters who said overwhelmingly that the economy was the top issue facing the country. But for retirees like Hemphill, the Republican president’s economic stewardship has been defined by the roller coaster of the stock market and fears his tariffs will lead to higher inflation.

“Some are considering curtailing their spending, such as saving their tax refunds instead of spending them, while others are adjusting their investment strategies by moving money into more conservative allocations like bonds and gold,” said Prudence Zhu, a Phoenix-area financial adviser, in an email. “While this is often an emotional response, it’s not necessarily the optimal strategy in most cases.”

How all of those issues shake out could have a notable impact on the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election, as the center of political gravity shifts increasingly toward battleground states in the South and the West, places like Arizona that are popular with retirees.

Like other emerging political battlegrounds Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina, Arizona’s population has exploded over the past half-century.

Though Arizona has moved from reliably Republican to a battleground, Trump enjoys overwhelming support in Sun City, where Hemphill is among the 40,000 residents in a community that sprouted from the desert in the 1960s. Trump won every precinct in Sun City, most of them by double digits.

Trump supporters like Paul Estok said they’re confident that the president has a handle on the situation and that things will stabilize with time.

“I’m real happy about what’s going on,” said Estok, who gets three pensions from the various government agencies where he worked as a union stationary engineer in the Chicago area. He’s confident the pensions are secure.

The tariffs Trump announced on much of the world sparked turmoil in the stock market earlier this month, before the president abruptly hit pause on most of them. But the drama isn’t over. Trump said the 90-day pause would be used to negotiate over tariffs with other countries, but he increased the tax rate on Chinese imports to 145%.

Estok said he’s thrilled to see a president tough enough to impose tariffs despite the economic consequences. Echoing Trump, he said other countries “have been taking so much advantage of us.”

Don Welling, an 82-year-old Trump voter, said those alarmed by the tariffs are misguided. He didn’t enjoy seeing his portfolio take a dip, but he wasn’t worried.

“If people would pay attention to what he said when he was campaigning, things would be better,” Welling said as he loaded groceries into his golf cart.

Some retirees said they’re worried about the effect Trump’s federal cost-cutting is having on Social Security. While Trump insists he will not cut benefits, his administration has eliminated thousands of jobs at the Social Security Administration, leading to complaints about long call wait times.

Karl Feiste winced to see his investments fall 20% in the days after Trump announced his tariffs, but he said, so far, his losses are only on paper.

“If that turns around, then I can still continue to do what I’ve been doing,” said Feiste, a Vietnam War veteran who voted for Harris. “But I’m not planning on buying a car. I’m not planning on moving. I’m not planning on taking extravagant vacations.

“I’m wondering what’s going to happen to the market because that basically dictates what leisure money I have.”