Donald Trump, a billionaire, has filled his administration with other billionaires, the highest profile of which is his political benefactor and “first friend” Elon Musk. Musk took it upon himself to dramatically reorganize the federal government through an initiative he called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). However, a recent poll found that a majority of Americans disapprove of DOGE, dislike Musk, and are generally opposed to billionaires influencing the presidential decision-making process.
The election that was conducted by AP-NORCfound that only about 30% of Americans were supportive of Musk’s DOGE effort. Meanwhile, the survey found that 52% of Americans had a very or somewhat unfavorable view of Musk. Only about 36% of survey respondents said they had a very or somewhat favorable view of him. 39% of Americans said they strongly or somewhat disapproved of Musk’s DOGE program; 12% said they neither approved nor disapproved of the effort. Another 19% said they didn’t know what they were thinking.
Additionally, the survey showed that a majority of Americans (60%) think it is “very” or at least “somewhat” wrong for the US president to rely on billionaires or his own family members for the purposes of government decision-making. Close to half (40%) said it was very bad. When broken down by political affiliation, Republicans were much more likely to say they support billionaire influence than Democrats.
The poll also found that, contrary to DOGE’s goal of cutting large amounts of government spending, a majority of Americans believe that the federal government is not spending. enough on certain areas. “Do you think the U.S. government spends too much, too little, or the right amount on each of the following?” asked the ballot, with a few categories. According to the poll results, 67% of Americans think the government doesn’t spend enough on Social Security, 65% think it doesn’t spend enough on education, and 61% think it doesn’t spend enough on Medicare.
Instead, Trump accepted plans abolish the Department of Education (which provides funding for schools), and key supporters of the president (including Musk) proposed the idea of making cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare as a way to achieve DOGE’s absurd fiscal goals. Some analyzes of Musk’s DOGE program says he would have to cut nearly all spending except defense and enforcement spending to achieve his goal of removing $2 trillion from the federal budget. Politically speaking, many commentators have called this impossible.
