How much influence should DOGE have on government spending? What a new poll found

Americans are divided over the scope of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the cost-cutting task force established by President Donald Trump, according to new polling.

The latest CBS News/YouGov poll asked respondents how much influence DOGE should have on government spending and how much access it should have to government data.

The results were split along partisan lines, with Republicans favoring greater powers for the task force than Democrats.

The poll comes as DOGE — helmed by Elon Musk — has slashed funding and fired workers at numerous agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Musk has said the goal of DOGE is to “save billions of dollars for the American taxpayer” and to target the “vast federal bureaucracy that is implacably opposed to (Trump).”

Many Democrats have expressed ardent opposition, though, including New Mexico Rep. Melanie Stansbury, who said during a recent hearing that Trump and Musk “are recklessly and illegally dismantling the federal government, shuttering federal agencies, firing federal workers, withholding funds vital to the safety and well-being of our communities and hacking our sensitive data systems.”

DOGE’s influence

The poll, conducted Feb 26-28 with 2,311 U.S. adults, asked respondents how much influence DOGE and Musk “should have over the spending and operations of U.S. government agencies.”

A slim majority, 54%, said they should have a lot or some influence, while 46% said they should have little or no influence.

When broken down by partisan affiliation, there were significant differences.

The vast majority of Republicans, 81%, said DOGE and Musk should have a lot or some influence, while 49% of independents and 31% of Democrats said the same.

DOGE and firings

Further, the poll asked respondents whether they thought DOGE and Musk have “too much, not enough, or the right amount of say in deciding whether federal workers should be dismissed or fired.”

Here, a slim majority, 52%, said the billionaire and DOGE have too much of a say. In contrast, 33% said they have the right amount and 15% said they don’t have enough of a say.

Again, there was a stark partisan divide on this question, with majorities of Democrats and independents — 81% and 57%, respectively — saying Musk and DOGE have too much of a say. Meanwhile, 57% of Republicans said they have the right amount.

The Trump administration has not released numbers on how many firings there have been, according to the Associated Press. But the outlet detailed thousands of job cuts across the federal government, including at the Department of Defense, the National Park Service and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Musk defended these firings during an interview with Joe Rogan released on Feb. 28.

“I want to be clear, these are cuts that DOGE recommends to the department,” he said, according to NBC News. “Usually these recommendations are followed, but these are recommendations that are then confirmed by the department.”

DOGE and government data

Lastly, the poll — which has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points — asked respondents whether DOGE and Musk “have too much, not enough, or the right amount of access to government agency data records.”

Just over half, 52%, said they have too much access, while 30% said they have the right amount, and 18% said they don’t have enough.

Here, again, Republicans were on their own, with about half, 49%, saying Musk and DOGE have the right amount of access. Meanwhile, majorities of Democrats and independents — 83% and 56%, respectively — said they have too much access.

In his interview with Rogan, Musk defended DOGE’s level of access to government data — which includes Social Security numbers — saying, “Anyone from DOGE has to go through the same vetting process that those federal employees went through,” according to The Hill.

This story was originally published March 3, 2025 at 2:50 PM with the headline "How much influence should DOGE have on government spending? What a new poll found."