Imagine that: Americans don't want an unelected billionaire running the government.
Summary
Multiple polls show that a significant portion of Americans oppose Elon Musk’s influence in government, particularly through DOGE.
A CBS/YouGov poll found that nearly half of respondents want Musk to have little or no influence, with opinions split along party lines.
Other polls from The Economist, Quinnipiac, and advocacy groups also reveal broad concerns over Musk’s power and lack of oversight.
Meanwhile, the White House continues to defend Musk and selectively highlight poll results that support Trump’s administration while ignoring criticism.
Even if there was, it wouldn't stop what's happening. The current administration gives no fucks about public opinion. If they did they wouldn't have repeatedly lied in their campaign nor would they be following the largely unpopular Project 2025
What we can do about it is start forming mutual aid networks and unions. These will help us form a cohesive front against the fast forming authoritarian government that's being installed.
If anyone wants resources to learn more about this you can find a rough draft here.
"Surely this time there will be consequences for Trump, unlike all those other times we thought there would surely be consequences for Trump. This time though, this time all those people who haven't been holding Trump accountable will hold Trump accountable."
A CBS/YouGov poll found that nearly half of respondents want Musk to have little or no influence, with opinions split along party lines.
So literally what any of us would have predicted as the outcome to this poll, and it doesn't matter anyhow, because Trump is fully in "whatever, I'll do what I want" mode.
Musk’s DOGE crusade is the perfect allegory for late-stage oligarchy: a billionaire playing cabinet minister while polls scream 46% want him gone. The partisan split here is theater – Republicans cheering their own disenfranchisement through regulatory capture, Democrats clutching pearls they helped string.
That White House press flacks can’t confirm his security clearance while he raids Treasury datasets? Peak technofeudalism. They’re not even pretending anymore – just raw power consolidation masked as "efficiency."
Meanwhile, the Education Department "doesn’t exist" but somehow gets staffed by meme lords with racist post histories. This isn’t governance; it’s a hostile takeover using government letterhead.
I’ll file this in the not helpful “hopium” or copium folder of discourse that is actually harmful to enacting change. It leads you to believe the tides are shifting in your favor and all will be ok when that’s actually not the case.
You're in for 4 awesome years of Musk in the gov, champs. But hey, you voted for it, so I don't understand why are you now showing disagreement with what they told you they would do.
it would seem about 60-70% of americans never have any idea what's really going on around here. you run into enough people who say shit like "i voted for trump but i'm going to vote against project 2025" that it's just astounding. so now probably 10-20% of us are gearing up for a fight for survival while 25-35% of the populace have been geared up to be the modern day brownshirts carrying out the oncoming genocide. the remaining 45-65% are just rolling along like this is all perfectly acceptable normal politics. they're acting like this is just the cost of doing business and it's not their place to do or say anything.
they're who's really responsible in all this. fuckers.
One comment I remember from right before the election was a person saying how their cashier said “well, anybody but Biden right?” and they were like “Biden…Biden isn’t running.”
I don’t get it. I do not understand how people could be so blind to politics that they wouldn’t even know who’s running, but then I talk to real people and it’s like “oh.”
I’m 100% certain that the “you” is directed at the republican voters. If you were one of them, then maybe the whole “Musk is going to be in charge of a new department and do all this crazy shit” somehow slipped by you, but it was definitely said very loudly.
I live in a solidly conservative area and I heard a surprising but also encouraging conversation this morning at the doctor's office.
When I walked in, there were a handful of folks in the waiting area and they were talking supportively of JD Vance, so presumably conservative voters. It was off putting for me and I was immediately a bit irritated that I can't even go to the doctor without having to listen to this bullshit.
But as the conversation continued, they actually started talking about how super wealthy people worth hundreds of millions aren't paying their fair share of taxes, how they're ruining towns and making middle class people pay for it, and things like that. Specifically they were talking about some of the environmental damage done to waterways by rich people (they mentioned someone specific but it wasn't a name I am familiar with and I don't recall what it was) and how the clean-up is being paid for by middle class tax payers.
So, while we might all disagree substantially on a lot of topics, I think a disdain for super wealthy / elites not paying their fair share is some common ground to build on.
That is pretty common when you hear conservatives talk. You often agree about the issues, but then you suddenly hear crazy conspiracy theories about why everything is the fault of immigrants, jews, trans people or whatever.
When conservatives talk about the rich and powerful being bad, its often about some "globalists", "George Soros", "World Economic Forum", "Liberals", ... than just the system being bad.
That is the reason why the leftist critique should always focus on the system, not specific people or groups.
But as the conversation continued, they actually started talking about how super wealthy people worth hundreds of millions aren’t paying their fair share of taxes, how they’re ruining towns and making middle class people pay for it, and things like that. Specifically they were talking about some of the environmental damage done to waterways by rich people (they mentioned someone specific but it wasn’t a name I am familiar with and I don’t recall what it was) and how the clean-up is being paid for by middle class tax payers.
I've also heard conservatives complain about Trump's plans in Gaza because "my taxes are going to give free condos to them! 😡" while also saying the government military spending is something they support without understanding how USAID is part of the MIC they seem to claim to support. Some seem to think spending money on bombing others is how you make America safe instead of making it more dangerous....
Yeah great, but the fucking damage is done and who knows what that neo-Nazi lunatic will do with the information. I hope the NSA, CIA and FBI nab his worthless ass.
I also want him of Earth for what it's worth. Let him pack up a Space X rocket and head to Mars. Start that colony he said we'd absolutely would have by now, because it's so easy (according to him). He's be the first person in Mars!
Polls are crap. Who answers those calls? The same damn people over and over.
The results are " strong feelings" or " nearly 50%" !?!?
I usually ignore motherj articles anyway.... Guess I can keep doing that
It is what it is at this point, and as usual, Democrats will completely mis-read the room and rant about shit that won't win them the midterms. The best we can hope for is TheIdiot falling flat on his face.
Yet more evidence shows Elon Musk and his cronies at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are unpopular with many Americans.
Nearly half of people who responded to a new CBS/YouGov poll out today said they want Musk to have less influence over government spending and operations, including nearly a third who think they should have none at all. The poll found that 18 percent of respondents said that Musk and his DOGE acolytes should have “not much” influence on government operations and spending, while 31 percent said they should have none at all. Predictably, the support differed along partisan lines: Nearly three-quarters of Republicans surveyed said Musk and DOGE should have “a lot” or “some” influence, whereas more than two-thirds of Democrats said they should have “not much” or “none.”
They're really reaching with that headline. It's in the territory between clickbait and positively misleading.