Over July 23 to July 27, Blue Rose Research conducted several national surveys on behalf of Inclusive Abundance Initiative to understand how voters view the effectiveness of the federal government, their own experiences with government services, and their appetite for reform. Below is a summary of key findings. You can view the full results, including the crosstabs, HERE.
Key Findings:
When it comes to improving government, voters strongly prefer streamlining how it works over simply shrinking it. Given a head-to-head choice between two philosophies of reform, voters chose “clearing away unnecessary rules and updating how government operates” (47%) over “cutting spending, reducing the federal workforce, and eliminating programs” (33%) by +14pp.
Here are two different approaches to making government work better. Which one of these approaches do you think would do the most to actually improve government? | ||||
Response | Overall | Harris | Swing | Trump |
Government is too big and spends too much. Make it work better by cutting spending, reducing the federal workforce, and eliminating programs and regulations – so taxpayers keep more of their money and the government does less. | 33% | 17% | 31% | 51% |
Government has buried itself in so much paperwork and red tape that it can’t build things or serve people quickly. Make it work better by clearing away unnecessary rules and updating how it operates – so it can deliver housing, energy, and services faster and cheaper, without necessarily shrinking it or cutting what it does. | 47% | 63% | 48% | 33% |
Not sure | 19% | 20% | 21% | 15% |
Voters see the federal government as slow, wasteful, and buried in paperwork. Roughly 8 in 10 voters agree the government is too slow and too bogged down in red tape, and a majority (55%) call it “mostly wasteful and inefficient.” Less than a fifth of voters say the federal government does an “excellent” or “good” job of improving their daily life.
Which of the following comes closer to your view, even if neither is exactly right? | ||||
Response | Overall | Harris | Swing | Trump |
The federal government is mostly wasteful and inefficient — money gets lost to red tape, and basic things take too long to get done. | 55% | 56% | 52% | 53% |
The federal government does a better job than most people give it credit for — it handles enormous responsibilities, like Social Security, Medicare, and mostly gets them right. | 33% | 33% | 34% | 34% |
Not sure | 14% | 12% | 15% | 13% |
Even still, most voters believe the government can be fixed with the right changes. A majority (55%) of voters say the government “can work well with the right changes,” compared to just 14% who see it as beyond repair.
Voters’ personal experiences with government services are considerably more positive than their abstract views of “the government” as an institution. Nearly 70% of voters self-report having personally tried to access a federal benefit, service, or permit in the past two years. The most common services voters have reported trying to access include Medicare/Medicaid (39%) and Social Security (36%).
- Among those that say they have tried to access services, more than half (56%) describe the experience as easy, and 60% say they ultimately got everything they needed.
- When something does go wrong, the top obstacles are less about money and more about basic customer service: confusing forms or unclear eligibility requirements (21%), an inability to reach a real person for help (19%), and long waits or delays (19%).
Regardless of which party holds the White House and Congress, do you think the federal government can be made to work well, or is it too broken to fix? | ||||
Response | Overall | Harris | Swing | Trump |
It can work well with the right changes | 55% | 59% | 45% | 55% |
It can improve a little, but not much | 20% | 19% | 22% | 20% |
It’s too broken to fix, no matter what | 14% | 13% | 19% | 14% |
Not sure | 11% | 9% | 13% | 10% |
Voters place more blame on political leadership and structural friction than on frontline government workers. When asked to rank which factors most explain why federal services fall short, voters point first to elected officials setting the wrong priorities and to bureaucracy and red tape - well ahead of incompetent federal workers or outdated technology.
What is the biggest reason federal government services fall short? | Picked Rank |
Elected officials setting the wrong priorities | 1 |
Too much bureaucracy and red tape | 2 |
Government’s inherent inefficiency, no matter who is in charge | 3 |
Not enough input from the people affected by decisions | 4 |
Programs are underfunded | 5 |
Constant turnover with each new administration | 6 |
Incompetent federal workers | 7 |
Outdated technology and computer systems | 8 |
Despite feeling frustrated with the experience of bureaucracy, voters consistently favor caution, oversight, and privacy over speed. Across several tradeoffs, including fraud prevention vs. faster access and public input vs. quick approvals, majorities in both parties pick the more cautious option, though Trump voters are notably more willing to trade oversight for speed.
- When asked directly what would most improve their experience with federal services in head-to-head matchups, being able to reach a real person tops voters’ list, while "Fast service with no long waits" ranks last.
Which of these would improve your experience with federal services the most? | Picked Rank |
I can reach a real person when I need to | 1 |
I get accurate information | 2 |
I can access benefits and services online, start to finish | 3 |
I can track the status and know what’s happening | 4 |
I know upfront exactly what’s required of me | 5 |
I get fast service with no long waits | 6 |
DOGE draws deeply polarized reviews and is net unpopular overall, despite strong support from the Trump coalition. Net favorability towards DOGE sits at –10pp overall, ranging widely from +45pp among Trump voters to –60pp among Harris voters.
- Still, a slim majority of voters (51%) agree that cutting wasteful spending and shrinking government was “the right idea” — whether carried out well (22%) or badly (29%) — compared to 31% who say it was the wrong idea from the start.
Methodology
This research was conducted via web surveys between July 23 to July 27, 2026. 24,484 respondents were interviewed nationally, and results were weighted to the 2026 likely voters. The margin of error for polling is ±2.4pp.