DOGE's Big Challenge: Americans Who Hate Inefficiency but Love Bloated Government
The public worries about corruption and bureaucracy, but many want more of the same.
The new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is off to a quick start, if we consider the advisory board's claimed savings in federal spending and the voluntary buyout of workers that could reduce the ranks of federal employees with a minimum of drama. But while the public agrees that corruption, inefficiency, and red tape are serious problems for the government, DOGE itself enjoys mixed popularity and majorities believe the government spends too little on big-ticket items, leaving little room for savings. The American people themselves are a big obstacle to paring the federal government to size.
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DOGE Off to a Good Start
"DOGE is saving the Federal Government approx. $1 billion/day, mostly from stopping the hiring of people into unnecessary positions, deletion of DEI and stopping improper payments to foreign organizations, all consistent with the President's Executive Orders," the DOGE X feed boasted this week. "A good start, though this number needs to increase to > $3 billion/day."
The Trump administration also sent a letter to the majority of the federal government's roughly three million workers, offering a "deferred resignation" plan. Those who accept the deal could stop working for the government as of February 6 and still be paid through September of this year. The administration expects up to 10 percent of workers to take the offer. The voluntary nature of the plan blunts inevitable complaints from unions about "purging the federal government of dedicated career civil servants."
We will have to see what the results will be in the coming months and years. But if that works out, it's a pretty good launch for an administration and its advisory board that are less than two weeks old. Unfortunately, Americans aren't sure where they stand on all this.
The Public Frets About Corruption, Inefficiency, and Red Tape…
According to AP-NORC polling, majorities believe that corruption (70 percent) , inefficiency (65 percent), and red tape such as regulations and bureaucracy (59 percent) are "major problems within the federal government." These findings square with the results of other surveys revealing that "nearly 2/3 of Americans fear that our government is run by corrupt officials" (Babbie Centre at Chapman University, Spring 2024), that 56 percent of Americans say government is "almost always wasteful and inefficient" (Pew Research, June 2024), and that "55% of Americans say the government is doing too much" (Gallup, November 2024). That's exactly what the Trump administration created DOGE to combat, so it should be a good sign for the project.
But Americans are torn over DOGE. Asked by AP-NORC to share their opinions of "an advisory body on government efficiency led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy" (before Ramaswamy left to run for office), only 29 percent support the venture while 39 percent oppose it. That seems to reflect its leadership. Fifty-two percent of those polled have an unfavorable opinion of tech titan Musk, while 36 percent view him favorably.
Why the hate? Musk's problem may be that he's a high-profile rich guy with things to say at a time when that type of person isn't especially popular. Sixty percent of respondents believe it would be a bad thing "if the president relies on billionaires for advice about government policy." That disapproval crosses over into opinions about DOGE, even if people say they support its goals.
…but Wants Increased Spending and Opposes Cuts in Government
A bigger problem, though, is that Americans aren't really comfortable with cutting the expense and bloat of the most expensive and bloated parts of the federal government. When asked by AP-NORC if the government was spending enough, most said they think the government is spending too little in areas including education (65 percent), Social Security (67 percent), Medicare (61 percent), Medicaid (55 percent), assistance to the poor (62 percent), and border security (51 percent).
The fact is that it's impossible to cut the cost and size of government if all these areas are considered untouchable. According to the U.S. Treasury, as of Fiscal Year 2025, 21 percent of federal spending goes to Social Security, 15 percent to national defense, 14 percent to health, 13 percent to net interest to service the government's massive debt, 13 percent to Medicare, 9 percent to income security, and so on.
DOGE might be able to squeeze some inefficiency out of these programs, but it's not going to reduce the size and expense of government if people insist that more be spent on these programs. Well, unless national defense is gutted, since only 34 percent of respondents think too little is spent on that category.
Likewise, only 29 percent of respondents told AP-NORC they want to eliminate large numbers of federal jobs (40 percent oppose the idea) and 23 percent favor eliminating entire federal agencies (49 percent oppose). A plurality of 43 percent is willing to make federal workers return to the office five days a week. Efficiency gains and cost savings are supposed to come from where?
What Americans Want Is Incoherent
This is a problem with regard to the public's relationship with government that I noted recently in the context of healthcare. "It is an old joke among health policy wonks that what the American people really want from health care reform is unlimited care, from the doctor of their choice, with no wait, free of charge," Michael Tanner, then of the Cato Institute, quipped in 2017. People rightly resent a vast, intrusive government that bosses them around, enriches dishonest politicians and bureaucrats, and engages in massive waste. But then they insist on gobs of extra goodies that require an even bigger governing apparatus that imposes more rules, wastes more money, and lines more pockets. And they'd like somebody else to pay for it, please.
That the new Republican majority in Congress wants to cut government in some areas but increase spending even more in others to an extent that according to Politico "could add as much as $10 trillion to the federal budget deficit" just exacerbates the problem. What people say they want isn't just incoherent; it's incompatible with reality.
The best hope, at this point, is that DOGE keeps trudging along with frankly inspired ideas like a voluntary buyout of government workers that leaves people reasonably happy with their lot. Let's see if Musk and company can think of a way to do that with whole agencies. Maybe we can spin the Department of Education off as a chain of storefront tutoring centers, with franchises sold to former bureaucrats. They'll have to compete in a free market, of course.
The deck remains stacked against DOGE and its mission to streamline government's size and cost. That it's making any progress at all despite the public's conflicted feelings on its mission is a victory.
