With America’s most famous divorce of 2025 still simmering, we have gone from full public breakup to slight appeasement of the parties. While picking sides is not easy for many people, there were a few policy points made in during the Twitter/Truth Social spat that Americans do have opinions on.

Deficits

Overall, more people side with Musk on the idea that adding $2.4 trillion to the national debt is a terrible idea. Nearly 6 in 10 (59%) agree that it is a terrible idea, including 42% who feel strongly about it. Just 20% disagree with the sentiment.

Not surprisingly there are some differences when you look below the numbers (but not many). Residents of Red States and Blue stated have very similar opinions with 6 in 10 residents agreeing that it is a terrible idea. Residents of swing states are slightly less agreeable to this notion, but a majority (54%) agree.

A majority of the different generations agree that it is a terrible idea, with Boomers the most adamant about their feelings.

Looking at gender and education, there are some differences, with non-college women being the least concerned about deficit spending, however a majority of this cohort do agree with Musk’s assertion that it is a terrible idea.

Most damning for the President is that a majority of his voters feel that the addition of over $2 trillion to the debt is a bad idea. Just 19% of Trump voters disagree with the sentiment.

Overall, on this question, Musk has, by far, the larger level of support.

Tax Cuts

On a related issue, and one that Musk did not say explicitly, the idea of tax cuts being fine to include because they will pay for themselves. This is an idea that politicians have been using for decades, and so far there is no economic data to show that this premise is remotely true or plausible. However perception is reality, so what do Americans think?

On this question, the public is much more divided compared to deficit spending. Overall, 34% agree that the tax cuts will pay for themselves, while 38% disagree. An additional 29% fall somewhere in the middle.

Interestingly, Americans in Red States and Blue States generally agree on this idea (there’s a sentence you don’t get to write too often). Just over a third of voters in both category of states agree that the tax cuts will be a net-neutral on the budget with about 3 in 10 in between. Residents of Swing States however, are much less on board with the concept. Indeed, just 22% of Swing State residents agree, while 50% disagree.

There are also some interesting differences by generation, with Millennials being the big outlier.

Similar to tariffs, college educated men seem to have missed a few important classes in Econ 101, or maybe stopped after Microeconomics? Either way…not a strong moment. Non-college women are the most likely to disagree with the idea.

While the news is slightly better for Trump, in that his supporters are more supportive of his position on this issue, the fact that “just” 50% support the idea that the President is pedaling is not great

On the question of tax cuts there is a less clear winner in terms of who Americans align more closely with. As mention, Musk didn’t explicitly talk about the tax cuts in this way, but feels like we’ll call it a tie. Putting the two together we know that the tax cuts wont pay for themselves, which means the $2.4 trillion could be a low number, so bad for Trump. However this not feel like enough for the President to start loosing significant support. Maybe another issue will.

There is an interactive graph on our website where you can see the numbers based on state type, generation, education, and 2024 vote.

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