Overall, three-in-four Americans are familiar with DOGE, with 38% indicating they are extremely or very familiar with the new agency created by the Trump administration.

One-in-three Americans (34%) approve of DOGE’s actions thus far, compared to 42% who disapprove. Approval of DOGE’s actions rises along with income, with high-income Americans (50%) twice as likely as low-income Americans (26%) to approve of DOGE’s actions. Similarly, the majority of Republicans (64%) approve of DOGE’s actions, while 71% of Democrats disapprove.

Americans believe that cutting wasteful government spending (54%) should be the top priority for DOGE.  Even Democrats are most likely to point to this objective over the four other options presented.

By comparison, just 8% say the priority should be reducing the size of the federal workforce.

In fact, second to cutting wasteful government spending is improving public access to government services (18%).

Notably, younger generations (Gen Z (10%) and Millennials (9%)) are more likely than older generations (0-4%) to believe that increasing automation and AI use in government agencies should be DOGE’s top priority.

Overall, one-in-four (27%) Americans have been personally affected in some way by the recent federal government layoffs. Gen Z, in particular, has been significantly affected, with two-in-five Gen Z (42%) reporting they were personally affected by recent federal government layoffs in some way. Parents are also more likely to be personally affected in some way by recent federal layoffs than non-parents.

“It’s startling, but not surprising, to see how affected Gen Z has been by recent federal government agency layoffs, as many probationary workers let go by DOGE fall into this generation. Even if someone in this generation was not planning to join or already in the federal workforce, they likely know someone in their peer group affected by the layoffs in some way. This outsized impact of federal government layoffs on Gen Z complements conversations around DOGE’s downsizing efforts disrupting the federal workforce pipeline by barring potential career government workers from entering the federal workforce.”
– Shelby Johnson, Senior Research Director, Povaddo

The majority of Americans (64%) expect that businesses will take on greater responsibility (32%) or not take on further responsibility but still maintain current responsibilities (32%) in self and industry regulation. However, one-in-five Americans (21%) believe that businesses will divest responsibility due to shrinking federal oversight.

Generally, Democrats and Baby Boomers are more pessimistic about the prospects of responsible self-regulation in business. One-in-three Democrats (35%) believe that businesses will become less responsible with decreasing federal oversight, compared to 21% of Independents and 7% of Republicans. Three-in-ten Baby Boomers (30%) expect businesses to divest responsibilities; this sentiment is lower among other generations (13-20%).

To help mitigate concerns over the negative impacts of federal government layoffs and program defunding, two-in-five Americans would be most interested in seeing businesses supporting veterans (42%), providing workforce training (41%), and increasing investment in local social services programs such as food banks, housing assistance, or childcare (40%).

Women, in particular, are interested in businesses offering expanded healthcare benefits or partnerships (40%).

Democrats (50%) are more likely than Independents (32%) and Republicans (22%) to be interested in businesses publicly advocating for the restoration of government jobs and funding for essential public services.

Regardless of the action, Americans are interested in businesses building goodwill through investing in the workforce and their community.