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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah voters are split on how they view the Department of Government Efficiency and the role multibillionaire Elon Musk is playing in the Trump administration, a new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll shows.
About 46% of Utah voters say they approve of the job Musk is doing as head of DOGE compared to 43% who say the opposite, according to recent polling conducted by HarrisX for the Deseret News. Of those, only 28% say they strongly approve and 17% say they only somewhat approve.
Meanwhile, 31% of voters say they strongly disapprove, with just 12% who say they only somewhat disapprove, the poll shows.
Those sentiments are split largely along party lines as those who identify as Republicans are far more likely to say they approve of DOGE's efforts so far compared to their Democratic counterparts.
A whopping 72% of Utah Republicans say they approve of Musk's job so far compared to just 14% of Democrats who said the same, according to the poll. Meanwhile, 82% of those who identify as Democrats in Utah say they disapprove of Musk and DOGE, with a vast majority of those (72%) saying they strongly disapprove.
Only 11% of voters say they don't know how they feel about DOGE.
Those sentiments are reflected in how Utah voters feel about the Trump administration and its efforts so far in "identifying and eliminating wasteful spending."
Voters are largely split on that issue, with 28% saying the administration has done an "excellent" job, compared to 29% who say it has done a "poor" job. Another 23% say the administration has done a "good" job so far and 21% say it's done a "fair" job.
Those ratings are also split along party lines as those who identify as Democrats or independents are far more likely to say the Trump administration is doing a poor job eliminating waste compared to those who identify as Republicans.
About 75% of Utah Democrats said the Trump administration was doing a poor job compared to just 9% of Republicans who said the same. On the other hand, 46% of Utah Republicans said the administration was doing "excellent" — with only 2% of Democrats who agreed.
Since President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 to establish DOGE, Musk has been moving a mile a minute to cut down on wasteful spending and eliminate what the president views as unnecessary programs.
The commission has already downsized several government agencies and identified billions of dollars in spending cuts. Much of that spending has already been frozen, and the administration is reportedly planning to send a formal rescissions package to Congress to approve the cuts as early as this month.
Congressional Republicans have been requesting such a package for months to give lawmakers a chance to approve or reject specific funding cuts. For example, some Republicans have rejected cuts to USAID programs that allow agricultural states to provide food to people in other countries.
Once that package is sent to Congress, they'll have 45 days to vote on it. However, if it's not approved, Trump will be required to unfreeze funds directed toward those government agencies.
