Support for Elon Musk’s influence over Donald Trump has plummeted amongst Republicans just weeks after the President was sworn into office.
The shocking poll comes after Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, was criticised for being given access to classified information regarding USAid and Medicare despite not having proper security clearance.
Since Trump’s victory in the November Presidential election the number of Republicans who want Musk to have ‘a lot’ of influence over Trump has dropped significantly from 47 per cent to just 26 per cent.
Meanwhile, the number of supporters who want the tech billionaire to have ‘a little’ influence over the President has risen by 12 per cent – from 29 per cent to 43 per cent – according to a poll from The Economist and YouGov released yesterday.
This suggests Republicans still remain satisfied with Musk working closely with the White House.
However, the number of supporters who want the Tesla owner to have no influence over the President has risen since November from 12 per cent to 17 per cent.
Unsurprisingly, only six percent of Democrats and Independents want Musk to have ‘a lot’ of influence. This is compared to 15 per cent of Democrats and 26 per cent of independents just three months ago.
The latest poll comes after the Musk headed department announced sweeping cuts to numerous government departments, including USAid and the GSA, which manages federal buildings.
An AI generated image of Elon Musk. Support for Musk’s influence over Donald Trump has plummeted amongst supporters of the GOP just weeks after the President was sworn into office
Trump with Musk in November 2024. Since Trump’s victory in the November Presidential election the number of Republicans who want Musk to have ‘a lot’ of influence over Trump has dropped significantly from 47 per cent to just 26 per cent
Musk during a rally on inauguration day. Unsurprisingly, only six percent of Democrats and Independents want Musk to have ‘a lot’ of influence over the president
Across the whole of America, the poll found that the number of Americans who Musk to have ‘a lot’ of influence has plummeted from 34 per cent to a measly 13 per cent.
However, the number of Americans who want the head of DOGE to have ‘a little’ influence has barely changed.
With the number rising from 22 per cent in November to 25 per cent today.
Overall those who want Musk to have no influence at all has risen from 30 per cent in November to 46 per cent.
A separate survey from CNN uncovered that a majority of Americans do not support Musk’s role in the Trump administration.
According to their data, 39 per cent support his role while 53 per cent oppose it.
Since Trump was sworn back into the White House in January, Musk has and his DOGE department has consolidated influence over large swathes of the US government.
His department has been accused of creating an alternative power structure inside the federal government which has given Musk the power to slash spending and sack employees without the approval of Congress.
Musk has trolled those who have criticised his actions so far in government by changing his bio on X, formerly Twitter, to ‘White House tech support’
A USAid worker at Kathmandu Airport, Nepal, in 2015. Musk’s biggest action so far came when he announced USAid cuts
Musk claims his action could trim an eye-watering $1trillion from the federal deficit by tackling waste and fraud.
But he has also been criticised for being given access to highly sensitive information including the Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems without the proper clearance.
Musk has trolled those who have criticised his actions so far in government by changing his bio on X, formerly Twitter, to ‘White House tech support’.
His title change followed a last-ditch court request to limit DOGE’s access to Treasury’s $5trillion system – the first hiccup for the nascent agency after weeks of ruthlessly purging federal institutions to eliminate waste and overspending.
Musk’s biggest action so far came when he announced USAid cuts which saw top security chiefs at USAID on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Musk’s government-inspection teams – which Musk eventually received access to.
On Monday, Musk held a live session on X Spaces, previously known as Twitter Spaces, and said that he spoke in detail about USAID with the president.
Musk said: ‘It’s beyond repair. We’re shutting it down.’
On Saturday USAid’s website disappeared without an explanation and Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio has previously announced massive freezes on foreign aid.
The agency has since been gutted with thousands of furloughs and layoffs by aid organisations.
The billionaire has also turned his attention to the GSA, which manages federal buildings, with Trump and Musk demanding the termination of federal office leases.
Yesterday, it was revealed that Musk has set his sights on the powerful government agency that controls Medicare and Medicaid payments, going through financial systems to see where funds are being spent.
Musk and Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in October 2024
Musk’s team at the Department of Government Efficiency has been on-site at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) where they received access to key payment and contracting systems, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The DOGE team have accessed similar systems at the Treasury Department and have a meeting at the Labor Department on Wednesday afternoon as part of their mandate to cut federal spending and the size of the government. USAID saw all its staff put on leave.
Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, confirmed the news, writing on X: ‘Yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening.’
He and his team, at the request of President Donald Trump, have been on a quest to upend the government.
CMS, a part of the Department of Health and Human Service, is a major distributor of healthcare payments.
The center sent out about $1.5 trillion in fiscal 2024.
With around 6,710 employees, it oversees Medicare, the health coverage program for older and disabled Americans, and Medicaid, for lower-income people.
Musk’s team has not yet gotten access to the database that includes enrollees personal data and the DOGE access is ‘read-only,’ meaning it cannot make changes to the system.
But payments coming from CMS are complicated and vary.
Protesters rally against the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) outside the U.S. Department of Labor on February 5 2025
Many Medicare payments go through private insurers, which are paid by the federal government. Medicaid is jointly overseen by federal and state officials, and federal payments go directly to the states.The federal government has enforcement efforts around healthcare fraud at the Justice Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and at CMS itself.
Musk’s actions have led unions to start filing lawsuits.
Democrats have questioned if Musk has any oversight but Trump said the billionaire owner of X is only acting with his approval. He added that his administration is keeping the SpaceX founder, who has billions in federal contracts, from interfering in any area where there is a conflict of interest.
‘Elon will not do anything without our approval and we will give him the approval where appropriate,’ he said in the Oval Office on Monday.
‘If there is a conflict, we won’t let him get near it. He has a team of talented people. We are trying to shrink government. Where we think there is a conflict or a problem, we won’t let him go near it,’ he added.
The president noted that Musk ‘has access only to letting people go that he thinks are no good – if we agree with him. He is talented from the standpoint of management and cost and we put him in charge of seeing what he could do with certain groups and certain numbers.’
Musk is serving as a ‘special government employee,’ the White House said.
He has a government email address and office space in the White House complex.
Musk speaks with Trump as they watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in November last year
Musk is not receiving a paycheck so wouldn’t have to file the standard government disclosure forms.
And Trump did deny Musk’s request to allow Baris Akis, a Turkish-born venture capitalist with a green card, to work for DOGE, The Atlantic reported. U.S. law generally prohibits noncitizens from working for the federal government.
But Trump has otherwise given Musk wide latitude when it comes to cutting back on government spending and the federal workforce.
DOGE is not a government department but a small team in Trump’s administration. It works out of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, across the street from the White House.
