(The Center Square) – With the federal government borrowing $2 trillion over the past 12 months, 88% of U.S. voters say addressing the federal deficit is important – yet they disagree on what the best solution is, new polling shows.
When federal spending in a year is higher than collected revenues – such as money from taxes and tariffs – the U.S. government runs a deficit, which adds to the national debt. The most recent year that the government ran a surplus instead of a deficit was 2001.
The Center Square’s Voters’ Voice Poll found that 47% of voters surveyed think that simply cutting government waste, fraud, and abuse can “significantly reduce” the deficit.
By contrast, 41% think reducing the deficit will require "major changes to federal spending and taxes” and 12% of voters are unsure.
The poll was conducted by Noble Predictive Insights from Oct. 5-7, 2026, and surveyed registered voters nationally via opt-in online panel and text-to-web cell phone messages. The weighted sample included 2,527 respondents comprised of 1,136 Republicans, 1,171 Democrats, and 220 True Independents (Independents who, when asked if they leaned toward one of the major parties, chose neither).
Independents as a whole slightly preferred cutting wasteful and fraudulent spending. True Independents, however, were the most evenly split, with 38% choosing the latter compared to 36% choosing spending and taxation changes. A large chunk, 26%, of True Independents remain unsure.
Only 39% of Democrats polled thought that cutting waste, fraud, and abuse would meaningfully reduce the deficit, compared to 57% of Republicans. Nearly half of Democratic voters instead favored changing spending and taxation policy, compared to just 34% of Republican voters.
Eliminating “waste, fraud, and abuse” has become a mantra for the second Trump administration, which has devoted significant resources to the effort.
After the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed early in Trump's second term by billionaire Elon Musk, became mired in controversy, the White House shelved the project but replaced it with the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, headed by Vice President J.D. Vance.
Notably, The Center Square’s poll revealed that within all age groups, racial groups, education levels, income levels and geographic areas; the option to cut waste, fraud and abuse always outranked the option of making major changes to spending and tax policy.
Both males and females were also more likely than not to favor cutting wasteful and fraudulent spending over implementing major fiscal policy changes.
But when compared to male respondents, female voters were slightly more likely to choose cutting fraud and excess by a two-percentage point margin. Men, on the other hand, proved much more likely to choose spending and tax policy changes compared to women, 45% to 37%, respectively.
The poll’s margin of error is +/- 1.95%.
The national debt is currently $40.28 trillion, according to U.S. Treasury data. Eliminating fraudulent and improper payments alone would likely not significantly reduce annual deficits, fiscal watchdogs say.
The Government Accountability Office found that 15 federal agencies together made an estimated $186 billion in improper or fraudulent payments in fiscal year 2025.
Fiscal watchdogs like the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget have continuously warned Congress about the consequences of high spending.
In response to the Voters’ Voice Poll results, CRFB President Maya MacGuineas said “[e]verything needs to be on the table” to address skyrocketing federal deficits.
"When the budget deficit is reaching $2 trillion outside a war or national emergency, that's about as clear a sign as you can get that things are no longer normal nor sustainable. Given the consequences of high and rising debt on affordability, borrowing costs, and our national security, this has become a major challenge requiring major changes,” MacGuineas told The Center Square.
“That means rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse where we find it, but it also means shoring up the major drivers of our borrowing — the rapidly-rising costs of Social Security and federal health care programs — as well as raising sufficient revenues to fund our priorities.”
