Republicans more likely to say DOGE effective at cutting waste

By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

Republicans view President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency more favorably than Democrats and independents as the president’s cost-cutting bureau enters a new era after the departure of Tesla boss Elon Musk.

The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted by Noble Predictive Insights, surveyed 2,565 registered voters from Oct. 2-6, 2025, via opt-in online panel and text-to-web cell phone messages.

The poll found that 46% of registered voters thought DOGE was effective at cutting government waste at the federal level. Another 43% said DOGE wasn’t effective, but much depends on party-affiliation.

“If you’re asking Republicans, they’re feeling pretty good,” pollster Mike Noble told The Center Square. “You’re asking anybody else, I think they’d say that it fell short when it came to effectiveness.”

Among Democrats, 21% said DOGE was at least somewhat effective while 68% said it was ineffective. Republicans view Trump’s signature cost-cutting effort more favorably. Among Republicans, 74% said DOGE was at least somewhat effective while 17% said it was not effective.

Among independents, half said DOGE was not effective while 37% said it was at least somewhat effective.

Support for DOGE also varied along income lines. About 60% of voters with household income above $100,000 said DOGE was at least somewhat effective. That fell to 45% for voters with household income between $50,000 and $100,000 and dropped to 39% for those with household income below $50,000.

The poll also asked voters if they would like to see a DOGE-like program in their state. About 51% of all registered voters said they’d like to see something similar at the state level while 35% disagreed.

As before, Republicans favor the idea more than Democrats and independents. Among Republicans, support for state-level DOGE efforts hit 76%; among Democrats that figure was 27%.

Trump promised Americans a more efficient government when he took office for his second term. At first, his Department of Government Efficiency, with Elon Musk at the helm, led the charge. Musk has since left DOGE and had a public feud with the president.

When Trump created DOGE, he said it would be the government cost-cutting equivalent of the “Manhattan Project.” Both Trump and Musk promised Americans would get a more efficient government after DOGE addressed government waste, reduced regulations and reduced the federal workforce.

Musk initially said DOGE would aim to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, but he later cut that in half. At a Cabinet meeting in April, Musk said DOGE was on pace to cut $150 billion from the federal budget.

The poll sample included 2,565 respondents, comprised of 978 Republicans, 948 Democrats, and 639 Independents, of which 262 lean toward neither major party, which Noble Predictive refers to as independents who, when asked if they leaned toward one of the major parties, chose neither.

The poll weighted each party – Republicans, Democrats, and True Independents – independently.

The margin of error is 2%.