What Americans Think About Trump And Musk's Plans For The Federal Government: Ap-norc Poll

Americans see the federal government as rife with corruption, inefficiency and red tape - but they're less sure about whether Elon Musk is the right person to fix it.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults strongly or somewhat approve of President Trump's creation of an advisory body on government efficiency, which Musk is helming. About 4 in 10 disapprove, while the rest were neutral or didn't know enough to say. The poll was conducted before Vivek Ramaswamy announced he would no longer be involved in the group.

The goal of the advisory body, the Department of Government Efficiency , or DOGE, is to expose fraudulent and wasteful spending across the federal bureaucracy, and its leaders have floated a range of possible ways to cut costs, including eliminating entire agencies. But although most agree that the federal government is facing major problems, many Americans also have an unfavorable view of Musk and are hesitant about the Republican president relying on billionaires for advice about government policy.

As the plans take more concrete shape, the poll shows that Americans are ambivalent about some of the changes that Trump and his team have mentioned in the past few months - including eliminating large numbers of federal jobs and moving federal agencies outside Washington. Substantial shares don't have an opinion, indicating that there's plenty of room for opinion to shift in either direction.

A return-to-office policy for federal workers - which was one of Trump's first executive actions on Inauguration Day - is fairly popular.