A Quinnipiac poll published Thursday found that 53% of people disapprove and 39% approve of Musk’s role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, which was created to slash wasteful government spending. 

However, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found that the majority of people support Trump’s slashing of the federal government. The poll found that 61% of people support downsizing the government, and 35% oppose it. Forty-nine percent of people support a federal hiring freeze, and 47% are against it. 

Critics of Musk’s oversight of federal spending have pointed out that Musk, who is the CEO of SpaceX, may encounter conflicts of interest because the company has received billions of dollars in contracts from the Department of Defense, NASA, and the U.S. intelligence community. 

During a White House press briefing Wednesday, a reporter asked press secretary Karroline Leavitt how the Trump administration would navigate Musk’s possible conflicts of interest as head of DOGE. 

“If Elon Musk comes across a conflict of interest with the contracts and the funding that DOGE is overseeing, Elon will excuse himself from those contracts,” Leavitt said. 

Both Tesla and SpaceX have been fined and investigated by the federal agencies where Musk is seeking to slash funding.

Under the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, which previously fined SpaceX, is bracing for mass firings. A couple of days ago, an email was sent to 1,100 employees by the agency’s administrator, Lee Zeldin, who warned that “the agency has the right to immediately terminate you.”

Musk also shared that DOGE would be taking on an overhaul of the Federal Aviation Administration, which proposed a $663,009 civil penalty against Space X last year. 

Musk played a huge role in getting former FFA Administrator Michael Whittaker to step down in January. 

“With the support of President @realDonaldTrump, the @DOGE team will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system,” Musk posted on X. “Just a few days ago, the FAA’s primary aircraft safety notification system failed for several hours!”