How much influence should Elon Musk have in White House? What Americans said in poll
Many Americans believe Elon Musk wields significant power in the White House — but few think he should, according to new polling.
In the latest YouGov poll, 51% of respondents said the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX currently has “a lot” of influence in President Donald Trump’s administration.
But, when asked how much influence Musk should have in the executive branch, just 13% said “a lot.”
The poll — conducted with 1,604 U.S. adults between Feb. 2 to 4 — comes amid Musk’s crusade to radically upend the federal bureaucracy.
As head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), established by Trump with the stated goal of rooting out government waste, the tech giant has targeted numerous agencies for major overhauls or wholesale removal.
Among the agencies in his crosshairs are the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
He doesn’t have free reign though, according to Trump, who said all proposed changes need to be approved by the White House, according to NPR.
“He’s running, obviously, a big company,” the president said on Feb. 3, according to CBS News. “If there’s a conflict then we won’t let him get near it. But he does have a good, natural instinct.”
Detailed findings
In the poll, just over half of respondents, 51%, said Musk has a lot of influence, while 32% said he has “a little” and 4% said he has “none at all.”
The responses were heavily divided by partisan affiliation, with twice as many Democrats (78%) than Republicans (35%) saying the South African-born billionaire and major Trump donor has a lot of power.
Meanwhile, half of Republicans said he has a little influence, compared to just 12% of Democrats who said the same, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.
The responses shifted dramatically when the question changed: How much influence should Musk have in Trump’s administration?
Just 13% of respondents said they want Musk to have “a lot” of influence in the White House, while 25% said they want him to have “a little.”
Close to half of respondents, 46%, said they want Musk to have “none at all.”
Here, again, there was a significant partisan divide, with 26% of Republicans and just 6% of Democrats expressing a desire for Musk to have a lot of influence. Similarly, 43% of GOP respondents said they want him to have a little influence, while 6% of Democratic respondents said the same.
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 10:40 AM with the headline "How much influence should Elon Musk have in White House? What Americans said in poll."