June 16, 2025
The public is not aligned with the priorities of Donald Trump’s “big bill” that is expected to reduce federal spending and extend tax cuts. Most people think the federal government spends too little on many of the federal benefit programs that the budget bill could cut.
A majority of adults think the federal government is already under-spending on key safety net programs including Medicare and Social Security. They also feel the country is not investing enough in education.
Roughly half the public feel spending is too low for Medicaid and food and nutrition programs like SNAP. About 3 in 10 think current spending is about right. Less than a quarter feel spending is too high.
The public is more divided over spending on the military and border security. Roughly 3 in 10 say the federal government spends too much, 4 in 10 feel current spending is about right, and 3 in 10 think there is too little investment in these areas.
A slight majority, 56%, think federal spending on foreign aid is too high, with a quarter saying it is about right and only 17% who think it should be increased.
On domestic safety net programs, the findings reveal the expected partisan gaps with Democrats more likely than Republicans to feel the government is under-spending. However, Republicans are far from agreement in their spending preferences. More Republicans say the government is spending too little on Social Security and Medicare than say it’s spending too much. Republicans are fairly divided on their views of Medicaid spending. Republicans are slightly more likely to think spending on food and nutrition programs is too high (46%) than about right (36%) or too low (18%).
Democrats and independents are also more likely to believe education is underfunded. Republicans are more split on this issue.
On spending for the military and border security, Republicans are more likely to say the federal government spends about the right amount, while Democrats are most likely to say too much is being spent.
About half of Democrats say the federal government spends too much on border security. About half of Republicans feel current spending is about right and about half think the country is under-investing. Independents are split on the issue.
Foreign aid is where many adults agree the federal government is spending too much. The Trump administration has asked Congress for deep reductions to foreign aid programs, including cuts to global health programs and refugee resettlement initiatives. Democrats are mostly divided on the issue, compared with independents (53%) and Republicans (79%) who believe the federal government spends too much on assistance to other countries.
The nationwide poll was conducted June 5-9, 2025 using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,158 adults. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 4.0 percentage points.
- Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. “Few want spending on federal programs reduced.” (June 2025). https://apnorc.org/projects/few-want-spending-on-federal-benefit-programs-reduced
