Most voters support having an agency focused on ensuring government efficiency but were split on the current Elon Musk-led department having access to their own personal data and the country’s, according to a new poll.
The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll found 72 percent of registered voters support such an agency, including almost nine in 10 Republicans, two thirds of independents and six in 10 Democrats. Pollsters found bipartisan support on a few general questions about government expenditures and waste, suggesting a path forward on the issue with support from both parties.
Two-thirds of respondents said the current level of debt for the federal government is unsustainable, and 83 percent said the government should reduce its expenditures rather than raise taxes to lower budget deficits. More than three quarters of respondents said a full examination of all government expenditures should be undertaken rather than not interfering with current contracts and expenditures.
All three questions had clear bipartisan agreement from Republicans, Democrats and independents.
Seven in 10 also said government expenditures are “filled with waste, fraud and inefficiency,” including at least three quarters of Republicans and independents and 58 percent of Democrats.
But partisan splits are exposed on questions concerning more specific plans from the Trump administration and actions from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been pushing for widespread layoffs across numerous agencies in the federal government.
More than three quarters of Republicans said DOGE employees should have access to all information on government expenditures, while almost 70 percent of Democrats said their access should be limited. Just over half of independents agreed it should be limited.
A clear majority of Democrats and independents, 75 percent and 63 percent, respectively, said DOGE employees shouldn’t have access to sensitive information on Americans who benefit from government programs, including their names, Social Security numbers, addresses and incomes. But 61 percent of Republicans said DOGE should have access to this information.
And respondents were split on whether the court rulings that have limited DOGE’s access to some information were based on the law or partisan politics. A majority of 56 percent, including 67 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents, said it was based on the law.
But a slim majority of Republicans, 52 percent, said it was based on politics.
Various federal judges have blocked Musk’s DOGE from accessing data they have sought, the most recent being a judge who blocked the department from receiving information from the Department of Education and Office of Personnel Management.
Mark Penn, the chairman of the Harris poll, told The Hill that the results show that voters yearn for a balanced budget and better government efficiency, believing that wide-ranging cuts are possible.
“There are limits and concerns about data privacy, but [they] overall agree with the goal,” he said.
The Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey was conducted from Feb. 19 to 20 and surveyed 2,443 registered voters. It is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Harris Poll.
The survey is an online sample drawn from the Harris Panel and weighted to reflect known demographics. The margin of error is 2 percentage points.
—Updated at 1:53 p.m. Eastern
