As the Trump administration and Congress pursue broad cuts to federal health agencies and budgets, most of the public, including some Republicans, oppose deep budget and staffing cuts to federal health programs and agencies, a new KFF Health Tracking Poll finds.
Across a range of questions, large majorities of Democrats and independents oppose the Trump administration’s major cuts to federal health agencies and programs, while Republicans are more supportive. Those who identify with President Trump’s Make America Great Again movement are even more supportive of cuts to health agency’s staff and budget but still split on cuts to funding for Medicaid and a few other programs.
For example, most of the public (61%), including large shares of Democrats (89%) and independents (67%), oppose major health spending and staff cuts at federal health agencies. In contrast, MAGA supporters overwhelmingly support such cuts (78%), while Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who don’t align with MAGA are divided (48% support the cuts, 52% oppose).
Similarly, most (59%) of the public, including large majorities of Democrats (92%) and independents (65%), say the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have been “recklessly making broad cuts to programs and staff.”
In contrast, the vast majority of MAGA supporters (87%), and a narrower majority of non-MAGA Republicans and Republican leaners (57%), say that the administration is “carefully making cuts to programs and staff to reduce fraud and waste.”
On Medicaid, a contentious issue as the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans weigh budget cuts to help finance tax cuts, three quarters (76%) of the public say they oppose major federal funding cuts.
A narrow majority of Republicans (55%), as well as larger majorities of Democrats (95%) and independents (79%), oppose major Medicaid cuts. MAGA supporters are closely divided on major funding cuts to Medicaid, with similar shares in favor (51%) and opposed (49%) to major cuts.
