Will the backlash to Elon Musk hurt Republicans?

“Drain the swamp” has long been one of President Donald Trump’s signature slogans. But now that billionaire Elon Musk is orchestrating mass layoffs of federal workers, it’s not clear that rhetoric translates into popular policy. At town halls from Missouri to Georgia to Oklahoma, constituents of Republican lawmakers have shown up to protest Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s aggressive efforts to slash government spending. More than 20,000 workers have been laid off so far, and almost 1 million people who reside in states that Trump won in 2024 could ultimately be affected. That raises the question: Will DOGE’s cuts hurt the Republican party in the long run? At least a few GOP lawmakers seem to be concerned they will. Some, including Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) and Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), have even been publicly urging Musk to take a kinder approach to reductions in force or demanding more transparency. “The question is, do we give people time to adjust to their lives? And I think that’s my biggest concern, is that we’re being compassionate,” McCormick told NBC News amid concerns about layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is headquartered in Atlanta. However, Republicans like McCormick remain in the minority, and Trump keeps giving Musk the thumbs up. Musk, too, seems undeterred, recently telling federal workers who ignored an initial email asking for a summary of their recent activities that he’d give them a final chance to reply. If they didn’t respond, he said, they risk termination. A number of Democratic strategists, on the other hand, are hoping any early frustration with DOGE grows — and that their party can exploit anger over government cuts at the polls during next year’s midterms. Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville told NewsNation earlier this week that he believes Musk’s tactics at DOGE may be “the greatest generator of Democratic turnout, ever, more than Barack Obama.” And in a New York Times op-ed on Tuesday, Carville suggested that an early indicator could be November’s governor’s race in Virginia, where about 144,000 civilian federal employees live. Based on polling, Democrats’ assessment that DOGE is deeply unpopular with their voters seems correct — but its aggressive cuts are not inspiring as much opposition among Republicans as the recent town halls would suggest. And that means it may be too early for Democrats to count on DOGE to usher in big victories for them. Polls show cracks in DOGE’s strategy Several recent national polls have shown widespread disapproval of Musk as the (apparently unofficial) head of DOGE, but there appears to be a stark divide between Democrats and Republicans. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll from February 13 to 18 found that 49 percent of Americans disapproved of Musk’s job performance, including 85 percent of registered Democrats, but only 15 percent of registered Republicans. Over half of Americans overall, 90 percent of Democrats and just 18 percent of Republicans, said they disapproved of Musk’s efforts to shut down government programs that he deemed unnecessary. [Image: https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gBE7k-elon-musk-s-job-approval-ratings-vary-widely-by-party-4.png?quality=90&strip=all] Opposition to Musk’s team gaining access to sensitive government databases storing the personal information of millions of Americans seemed slightly more bipartisan: 92 percent of Democrats and 32 percent of Republicans said they were “concerned” about it. Another mid-February poll from Quinnipiac University found that 55 percent of Americans think Musk has too much decision-making power in the federal government, including 96 percent of Democrats and 16 percent of Republicans. Those results are in line with other February polls from Pew Research Center and Emerson College, which found that Americans disapproved of Musk more than they approved of him. Both polls also reflected a stark partisan split. Democrats are apparently almost unified in their opposition to Musk, and the party might well be able to use that disapproval to stage a comeback in the midterms. But their path back to power isn’t wide open. At least for now, it’s clear that Republicans like what Musk is doing, and the GOP doesn’t seem to be self-inflicting any wounds. The question is whether that will change, especially if government layoffs start affecting the livelihoods of Republican voters.

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Will the backlash to Elon Musk hurt Republicans?