Americans are largely divided on Elon Musk’s work for the Trump administration, according to a new CBS News/YouGov poll, as U.S. voters otherwise mostly backed President Donald Trump in the opening weeks of his administration—even as they wished he would do more to lower prices and expressed concern about tariffs and his plans for the U.S. to control Gaza.
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX ... [+]
Americans held a 53% approval rating for Trump, according to the poll, which was conducted Feb. 5-7, while an overwhelming 70% agreed he is doing in office what he promised on the campaign trail.
U.S. adults were less sure about Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) having control over government operations and spending, with only 23% saying he should have “a lot” of influence and 28% saying he should have “some” power, while a combined 49% believed he should have little to no control over the government.
Those responses fell largely along party lines—with Republicans more supportive of Musk’s actions than Democrats—though only 30% of Republicans think Musk and DOGE should have “a lot of” influence while a larger 44% think he should only have “some” power over the government’s operations.
Musk and his DOGE associates have become increasingly powerful in the weeks since Trump took office, gaining control of sensitive government information in numerous government agencies and exerting broad influence on the government cutting funding for U.S. foreign aid and other programs.
Trump’s mass deportation plans for undocumented immigrants are broadly popular, with 59% approval, and 64% approve of him sending troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. His plans to create large detention centers while the government determines who should be deported were less popular, however, with only 48% approving while 52% opposed it.
While a 56% majority of poll respondents backed Trump’s tariffs on imports from China, Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and Europe are broadly unpopular, with between 56% and 62% opposing them, depending on the region where the tariffs are imposed. An overwhelming 66% of respondents say Trump isn’t focusing enough on lowering prices, as he said he would do on the campaign trail, which includes 48% of Republicans. Only a slim 53% majority of GOP respondents believe Trump’s policies will make their grocery prices go down.
While 54% of respondents approve of how Trump’s handling the Israel-Hamas war, Americans are so far the most critical of Trump’s suggestion the U.S. could take over Gaza, with only 13% of poll respondents saying that would be a “good idea.” Democrats overwhelmingly believed U.S. control of Gaza would be a “bad idea,” but Republicans were largely noncommittal, with only 26% saying it would be a “good idea,” 20% saying it would be a “bad idea” and a 54% majority saying they were unsure.
CBS News’ polling is more favorable than other recent polls on Trump’s approval rating. Trump’s average approval rating has hovered around 48% since his inauguration, according to an analysis of polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight, with Morning Consult finding Trump’s approval rating dropped three points after his first week in office, from 52% to 49%. Pew Research noted that while Trump’s 47% approval rating as of Jan. 27 - Feb. 2 was higher than any point during his first term, it still fell below where other recent presidents have been rated right after their inauguration, other than George W. Bush in his second term.
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