Poll: North Carolinians opposed to major federal agency cuts

North Carolinians do not favor elimination or major cutbacks at 14 federal agencies targeted for reduction by President Donald Trump’s administration and its Department of Government Efficiency, based on findings from the latest survey by the Elon University Poll.

The survey conducted March 3-11, 2025, gathered opinions from a representative sample of 800 North Carolina adults and has a margin of error of +/- 4.04%.

• Elon University Poll topline for federal issues (March 2025)
• Elon University Poll charts and analysis for federal issues (March 2025)

Federal agency cuts

When asked about funding for 14 specific federal agencies, a plurality of North Carolinians said they favor only minor reductions or no change at all of them. For half the agencies, poll respondents said they would support increased funding, rather than reductions or elimination.

For the U.S. Department of Education, 33% favored increased funding, compared with 25% who favor elimination or major reductions at the department. Similarly, 35% backed more funding for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, compared with only 10% who favor major reductions.

There was also little support (less than 20%) for major reductions or elimination of NOAA (National Weather Service), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Defense Department, Department of Justice, Centers for Disease Control, Department of the Interior, National Institutes of Health and the FBI.

In general, Republicans were more in favor of major cutbacks, with 41% of Republicans favoring the elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), compared with only 2% of Democrats. Similarly, 38% of Republicans favored elimination of the U.S. Department of Education and 30% favored elimination of public broadcasting (PBS and NPR), compared with 2% of Democrats favoring elimination of either of those agencies.

“Our poll results suggest that Democratic efforts to rally public support around the Department of Education are having some impact in North Carolina,” said Jason Husser, director of the Elon University Poll. “A large majority of Democrats (81%) and about half of independents want to see funding for the department kept the same or increased.”

Democrats were more likely to favor no change in agencies, or even an increase in funding, with 51% favoring an increase in U.S. Department of Education funding (compared with 16% of Republicans favoring increased funding), and 51% favoring increased funding for the Centers for Disease Control (compared with 10% of Republicans favoring increased funding).

Both Democrats and Republicans favored increased funding for the Department of Veterans affairs, including 43% of Democrats and 30% of Republicans. In assessing the impact of a reduction in federal spending and federal employees and the elimination of research grants, 44% said there will be a very or somewhat negative impact in North Carolina, compared with 34% who expect a positive impact. A large majority of Democrats (76%) expect a negative impact from federal spending cuts, compared with 64% of Republicans who expect a positive impact.

Assessing the work of DOGE and Elon Musk, 51% said they distrust that he is working in the best interests of the public in leading efforts to promote government efficiency, compared with 40% who expressed trust in his efforts. Among Democrats, 85% said they completely or somewhat distrust Musk, compared with 76% of Republicans who completely or somewhat trust him.

Only 34% of poll respondents said that there will be a major reduction in overall spending within a few years; 45% expect no change or a minor reduction in overall spending, with 21% expecting that government spending will increase within a few years.

Half of North Carolinians support Attorney General Jeff Jackson’s decision to join attorneys general from 18 other states in filing a lawsuit to stop DOGE from accessing U.S. Treasury Department records that contain personal information on millions of Americans, with 28% opposing Jackson’s decision and 22% unsure.

“Though polls have found for decades that the public is skeptical about the overall federal bureaucracy, we are not finding unified support for budget cuts when it comes to specific parts of the bureaucracy,” Husser said. “Rather, for functions like Veteran Affairs, we are finding a large majority of people in the key swing state of North Carolina wanting to see funding maintained or increased. Society is experiencing the disconnect between a desire to see less federal spending in the abstract and the reality that many of the agencies and departments are engaged in work that is broadly popular.”

Immigration

North Carolinians are evenly split about the impact of the Trump administration’s actions to deport immigrants who are in the United State illegally. Roughly equal numbers expect positive and negative impacts on the nation’s economy, their own community’s economy and their local workforce resulting from the deportations.

For instance, 38% of state residents said the impact of the Trump administration’s plan to deport undocumented immigrants will have a very or somewhat positive impact on the local workforce where they live, while 37% said the impact would be negative; 9% said there would be no impact and 15% said they were unsure.

Poll respondents were split on whether state, county and local law enforcement agencies and officers should assist federal immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) officers in enforcing federal immigration laws in churches, schools and hospitals. Opposing local assistance were 41% of poll respondents, with 40% favoring local assistance and 19% unsure.

This poll found that 63% would support a program to provide undocumented immigrants living in the United States with a pathway to become citizens if they meet certain requirements, such as a background check and paying any fines and taxes. That’s a reduction in support from a 2013 Elon University Poll when 80% supported providing undocumented immigrants with a pathway to citizenship.

In comparing attitudes toward immigrants between an Elon University 2013 poll and today, the findings are very similar. In both polls, 51% said immigrants are a benefit to North Carolina because of their hard work and job skills. In 2013, 37% said immigrants are a burden in the state because they use public services, but that percentage has dropped to 31% in the 2025 Elon University Poll.

Trump job approval

In the Elon University Poll’s first measure of Trump’s job approval ratings for his second term in office, 45% of North Carolinians disapproved of his job performance with 42% approving. Trump’s disapproval ratings were highest among Democrats (87%), Blacks (74%), women (51%) and those with four-year college degrees (51%). Trump’s approval ratings were highest among Republicans (83%), whites (52%) and men (51%).

Trump’s approval numbers are the same as they were in the Elon University Poll’s first survey after he took office in 2017, but his disapproval numbers are slightly better for him now. In that April 2017 poll, 51% of North Carolinians disapproved of Trump’s job performance; 42% approved of his performance at that time.

“On the surface it might seem surprising that President Trump’s approval rating is slightly negative in North Carolina, despite him winning the state by three points less than five months ago,” Husser said. “I attribute much of this gap to the switch from a campaign style focused on being the outsider promising disruption of the status quo, to the reality since January 20 of leading the party in charge and lacking the immediate foil of a Democratic incumbent.”

Poll Methodology

Access the poll topline and methodology at: www.elon.edu/elonpoll

The survey was constructed by the Elon University Poll in partnership with McClatchy Media Company and fielded by the international marketing and polling firm YouGov as an online, web-based survey, self-administered with online panels. Between March 3 and March 11, YouGov interviewed 1,050 North Carolina adults aged 18 and older. These respondents were then matched down to a sample of 800 to produce the final dataset. The margin of error for this poll (adjusted for weights) is +/-4.04%.