Is Elon Musk right to oppose the budget bill? What Americans said in a new poll

Brendan Rascius, The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) on Jun 10, 2025

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During his public falling out with President Donald Trump, Elon Musk slammed the president’s proposed spending bill — dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” — claiming it will balloon the deficit.

It turns out, most Americans agree with his critique, new polling reveals.

In the latest Economist/YouGov poll, half of respondents were asked to react to a statement from Musk on the GOP-backed spending bill, which passed in the House without a single Democratic vote.

The legislation, Musk wrote on X on June 3, “will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion and burden (American) citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”

A majority of respondents, 56%, said they agreed with this statement, while just 17% said they disagreed. More than one-quarter, 27%, said they were unsure.

The answers were largely linked to partisan affiliation, with Democrats largely siding with Musk for a change.

Seventy-two percent of Democrats said they concurred with the billionaire’s statement about the spending bill, as did 55% of independents. Among Republicans, a plurality, 44%, said they agreed.

The poll — which sampled 1,533 U.S. adults June 6-9 — posed the same statement before the other half of respondents, but this time, it did not attribute it to Musk.

Without reference to Musk, a slightly smaller share, 49%, said they agreed with the statement, while 23% said they disagreed. Smaller shares of Republicans, independents and Democrats agreed, though Democrats saw the largest decrease in support — from 72% to 60%.

The poll has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

More on the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’

The spending bill, which provides funding for fiscal year 2025, passed in the House in a 215-214 vote in late May and is now under consideration in the Senate.

It contains many pieces of Trump’s agenda, including a road map to extend the 2017 tax cuts, as well as an increase in funding for the Pentagon and border security, according to previous reporting from McClatchy News.

At the same time, it slashes funding for social programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Further — to Musk’s point — it would increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion over the next 10 years, according to an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency.

In addition to Musk, the bill has received criticism from several other prominent conservatives in Congress.

One of the most vocal opponents has been Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who wrote on X that “the spending proposed in this bill is unsustainable, we cannot continue spending at these levels if we want to truly tackle our debt.”

Other Republican lawmakers have come out in defense of the bill, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has said the legislation will deliver “historic tax relief, ensure our border stays secure, strengthen our military, and produce historic savings.”

Meanwhile, Democrats have been united in their opposition.

In a statement, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries labeled the bill “the GOP Tax Scam” and said it would rip “healthcare and food assistance away from millions of people in order to provide tax cuts to the wealthy, the well-off and the well-connected.”

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