Voters Worry DOGE Is “Stealing From You” by Cutting Health Care and Other Popular Programs to Give Tax Breaks to Elon Musk
Data For Progress and the Progressive Change Institute are partnering on regular polling around economic issues – identifying throughlines that resonate with the public on everything from this week’s Trump administration funding freeze to the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s anticipated cuts to popular programs to the upcoming tax fight in Congress.
From surveys conducted January 24-27, 2025, January 10-11, 2025, and December 14-15, 2024, new data finds that likely voters’ biggest concerns are Trump Administration proposed cuts to Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and veterans health care – followed closely by food assistance for low-income families, cancer research, and other items subject to the Trump Administration’s spending freeze.
Concerns about cuts are exacerbated for Independent voters when connected with the argument that Trump will “steal from you by cutting Social Security, Medicare, and veterans health care to give tax breaks to giant corporations and billionaires like Musk.”
Voters also believe Elon Musk is more interested in self-enrichment than efficiency, and that the government should be doing more to help Americans, not less.
When a case for DOGE is tested against two alternative messages against DOGE, saying DOGE will “steal from you by cutting Social Security, Medicare, and veterans health care to give tax breaks to giant corporations and billionaires like Musk” performs better with Independent voters, whose views on DOGE shifted 24 points more unfavorably on net, compared with simply saying DOGE will cut those programs or simply saying DOGE will benefit billionaires.
Additionally, while saying DOGE will cut programs to “give tax breaks to giant corporations and billionaires like Musk” effectively decreases DOGE’s favorability, a message that combines “steal from you” and “give tax breaks” has an even greater negative impact on voters’ opinion on DOGE, particularly among Independents whose views on DOGE shifted 14 points more unfavorably on net with the combined message.
Furthermore, a majority of voters (71%) believe the government should do more (56%) or is doing the right amount (15%) to help Americans, including 58% of Republicans, 64% of Independents, and 86% of Democrats. Only 22% of voters believe the government is doing too much.
By 51% to 35%, a majority of voters believe Musk will use DOGE to enrich himself and undermine his business rivals instead of being truly interested in making the government more efficient through DOGE.
These findings indicate that proposals to cut government programs go against the majority of voters’ wishes. While voters agree the federal government has inefficiencies, most also believe the government should be doing more to help Americans, and they are very concerned about the Trump Administration’s potential cuts to Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and veterans health care. Additionally, a majority of voters think Elon Musk will use DOGE to enrich himself, rather than actually help improve the government.
Survey Methodology
From January 24-27, 2025, January 10-11, 2025, and December 14-15, 2024, Data for Progress conducted a national survey of 1,260 voters, 1,210 voters, and 1,195 voters, respectively, using web panel respondents. The samples were weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and recalled presidential vote. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error associated with the sample sizes are ±3 percentage points. Results for subgroups of the sample are subject to increased margins of error. Partisanship reflected in tabulations is based on self-identified party affiliation, not partisan registration. For more information please visit dataforprogress.org/our-methodology.