Trump’s job cuts are causing Republican angst as all parties face backlash

A spate of town hall meetings held across the US has revealed palpable anger among both Democratic and Republican voters. At some events, voters have spoken to “empty chairs” in lieu of Congress members who refused to show their faces. At others, lawmakers have been booed, heckled and faced raucous audiences.

What’s striking isn’t just the outrage, but where it’s coming from. Much of the backlash is from parties’ own voters.

Things have become particularly bad for Republicans. So much so that party leaders have urged lawmakers to host live-streamed or call-in events rather than in-person town halls. President Donald Trump has baselessly blamed “paid agitators” for the fallout. But some backlash doubtlessly comes from Trump supporters.

Republican angst might suggest a discrepancy between their abstract support for federal spending cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) and their actual response to its practical consequences.

Republicans doubtlessly like the optics of Musk taking out his chainsaw to slice government. A March 2025 CNN poll, for example, revealed that 75% of Republicans approve of Musk, compared to just 6% of Democrats. Additionally, 73% of Republicans even think Doge cuts won’t go far enough in rooting out “waste, fraud, and abuse” in government.

However, that enthusiasm seems to fade when specific programmes are on the chopping block. As Republican strategist Brian Seitchik puts it: “There is certainly a disconnect right now between the theory of Doge, the cutting of fat in government … and what is seemingly a blowtorch as opposed to a scalpel approach to solving these problems.”

Cuts to the federal workforce are emerging as perhaps the most contentious issue. These jobs are disproportionately concentrated in Washington DC. But in terms of total numbers, most are scattered across the country. That includes Republican states that Trump carried in last November’s election.

Eliminating these jobs is having an impact that many Trump voters didn’t anticipate. Some may soon be showing buyer’s remorse with Trump. It is worth noting that around 81% of Republicans rated jobs and the economy as a very important issue, compared to 73% of Democrats, in a March poll from the Economist/YouGov.

The political downside of job cuts has been made worse by an administration that can often seem numb to their impact. Recently, new video footage was unearthed of current Office of Management and Budget head Russ Vought saying in 2023 that he wanted civil servants to be “traumatically affected”.

Despite all of Doge’s relentless efforts, US federal spending still hit a new high last month – US$603 billion (£467 billion). Without touching health service and senior citizen entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, it will be hard for the White House to significantly reduce national debt.

High prices also continue to anger Trumpland. Trump vowed in the campaign: “You just watch – they’ll come down, and they’ll come down fast.” With inflation, Trump can scapegoat former president Joe Biden for a period. But that only lasts so long.

The problem for the White House is that it’s hard to imagine two more inflationary policies than those offered by Trump: tariffs, which pass higher prices onto consumers; and mass deportations, which constrict the labour supply and drive up the price of goods.

Trump’s base is notoriously loyal. But swing voters who backed Trump could be in for a rude awakening if they expected Trump to revitalise American manufacturing and slash the price of eggs and Big Macs. If Trump’s approval ratings start to slide, some Republicans in Congress may also give him less than their full-throated support.

Discontented Democrats

Republicans aren’t the only ones with a problem from their own flank. According to polling by CNN, the Democratic party’s approval rating is just 29%, an all-time low. Among Democrats, some frustration stems from the direction in which Trump is taking the country, but much of it is about the Democratic party’s inability to counter him.

Consider Trump’s speech before a joint session of Congress a couple weeks ago, where Democrats looked clumsy (and shrill) in their response. Representative Al Green was even censured for disrupting Trump’s address, including by 10 of his Democratic colleagues.

Consider also the recent spending bill, when Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer broke with his party to keep the federal government open. Fellow Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the move a “huge slap in the face,” while even Schumer’s longtime political partner and former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called him out for caving.

Many Democratic voters view Democratic party leadership as feckless, as weak, and, in short, as losing. That’s hard to dispute that when Republicans have control of the White House, Congress, and for all intents and purposes, the Supreme Court.

Calls for “fighting harder” ring hollow unless they’re backed with concrete action. Some pushback can come from states and localities. But what Democratic voters may be looking for is a common message. Half the party wants full-on resistance to Trump. Half doesn’t.

What Democrats do next

Coming out of November’s election, the autopsy reports haven’t moved the party in a consistent, constructive direction. For example, Democratic strategist James Carville says that his party should simply “roll over and play dead,” letting Republicans self-combust and making the American people long for Democratic governance. Others, like Ocasio-Cortez, are spoiling for a fight with Trump.

Past patterns in election cycles would suggest that Democrats will take back at least one chamber of Congress in the 2026 midterms. But before they can, Democrats must heal splits between moderates and progressives, and address the backlash against “wokeism”, which is fading even faster than it emerged.

Things look dire for Democrats now. Still, some historical context is instructive. 2004 was also a devastating loss for Democrats, when presidential candidate John Kerry lost to incumbent George W. Bush. Yet in 2008, Barack Obama ushered in a new era of Democratic governance. Politics has a way of self-correcting when the party in power over-interprets its mandate.

Thomas Gift does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.