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A surging portion of American voters are dissatisfied with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new poll has revealed.
Sixty percent of registered voters disapprove of how DOGE has dealt with federal government employees amid massive job cuts, reports a fresh Quinnipiac University survey.
In addition, 54 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that DOGE was doing “more damage than good” to America.
Only 36 percent of respondents support the world’s richest man’s brash measures slashing federal departments and jobs.
Donald Trump also took a hit with 53 percent of those surveyed saying they disapprove of the way the president is handling his job. And 54 percent disapprove of the way he is handling the economy amid the fraught on-again-off-again trade war and tumbling stock market, the poll found.
Voter discontent with the economy has dipped to levels not seen since May 2023, according to the poll, and approval was down on foreign policy issues as well, including the Ukraine war.
“A noticeable uptick of discontent can be seen over President Trump’s handling of a range of issues: from Ukraine to the economy to the federal workforce,” noted Quinnipace polling analyst Tim Malloy
DOGE has orchestrated a mass culling of workers from an array of government departments under Trump’s direction. The White House, however, has provided no specific figures on how many jobs have been cut. Whatever it is, it’s a moving figure since many legal challenges to DOGE have been successful. On Thursday a federal judge ordered almost all fired probationary employees to be rehired.
Musk’s large-scale layoffs are likely to overshadow two of the biggest ejob cuts in U.S. history. In 1993 IBM laid off 60,000 workers, and in 2008, when the Lehman Brothers crumbled, almost 25,000 employees — including those outside of the U.S. — lost their jobs.
Musk’s job cuts are expected to climb to 300,000, according to Torsten Slok, chief economist at asset management company, Apollo Global Management. The latest move involves an anticipated 10,000 job cuts at the U.S. Postal Service.
Musk’s demands last month that federal staff list their week’s accomplishments in an email to DOGE or face firing was the “breaking point for several Cabinet members,” The Atlantic reported.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and FBI Director Kash Patel were among those who reportedly complained about Musk’s moves. Rubio launched an attack on Musk for overstepping his authority that grew so heated that the president had to step in to defuse the situation, according to sources
The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted between March 6 and 10 and surveyed 1,198 registered voters. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
The Independent contacted The White House for comment.
