Many of the federal employees who voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 are now saying they feel duped after he's deputized Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to carry out mass firings of workers across multiple federal agencies.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that a new poll the paper conducted with Ipsos shows federal workers have very little confidence in the Trump administration, or in their agencies to effectively do what they've been tasked to do as a result of Trump's cuts. Despite this, a majority of federal workers who cast their ballots for Trump still approve of his second term so far.
According to the poll, 57% of respondents say they believe Trump's executive orders affecting their agencies are illegal, while an overwhelming 71% of those polled say they believe the government will not be functional if Trump succeeds in his goal of laying off large numbers of federal employees. Additionally 74% said Trump's cuts have resulted in a loss of institutional knowledge within their agencies.
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“Yes, the government can be more efficient. But we didn’t vote for this,” said one Department of Defense employee who voted for Trump three times. “We didn’t vote for Elon Musk.”
A slim majority (51%) of respondents who are registered to vote pulled the lever for former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, while 38% of those polled voted for Trump. But nearly all federal workers who took the poll are in agreement that while their agencies were good places to work before Trump's second term — 89% said their agencies were "very/somewhat good" over the past few years — just 67% say the same now that Trump is back in the White House.
One Commerce Department employee who identified as a Democrat said that Trump's stated goal of purging "waste, fraud and abuse" from agencies was already being done by the inspectors general he fired not long after beginning his second term. The employee told the Post they know feel like they're being bullied by the administration.
“The fear is that they are trying to make it so bad to work here so they can privatize it,” the worker said. “They are just going to torture you until you quit.”
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Click here to read the Post's report in its entirety (subscription required).