Fewer Republicans view a nonpartisan civil service as essential, survey shows

Public support for a nonpartisan civil service has declined over the last year, according to survey data released Tuesday by the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan good government group. Two-thirds of respondents agreed that “a nonpartisan civil service is important for having a strong American democracy,” a decrease from 87% in 2024.

The change was mostly driven by Republicans, whose agreement dropped from 87% to 66%, and independents whose support fell from 79% to 34%. But more respondents from both groups said they were unsure about the importance of a nonpartisan civil service, while a smaller share outright disagreed. Among Republicans, 15% disagreed with the statement, while 19% “didn’t know.” And for independents, 19% disagreed and 46% “didn’t know.”

The survey results come as Donald Trump seeks to reshape the federal workforce, with more Republicans expressing support for the president to exert increased political influence over the civil service. 

In the survey, 64% of GOP respondents said the president “should have the right to fill any government job with people that agree with their policies” (up from 33% in 2024) and 60% of surveyed Republicans said the president “should be able to fire any civil servants that they choose for any reason” (compared with 37% in 2024).

“Undoubtedly, some of that shift among Republicans is a result of the party of the current president and the change from 2024,” according to the Partnership’s report. “But an additional factor might be the criticism of federal civil servants posited by the Trump administration.”

Since the start of his second term, Trump has sought to bring more political appointees into government and make it easier to fire career federal employees.  

The survey also found that 49% of respondents said they trust civil servants, which is a slight increase from 46% in 2024. Concurrently, the data shows the number of participants who don’t trust federal employees decreased from 32% to 23% between 2024 and 2025. 

The Partnership’s results come from a nationally representative poll of 800 U.S. adults that occurred between March 31 and April 6. They’re part of an annual survey that the organization conducts to measure the public’s trust in government. 

Overall, 33% of respondents said they trust the federal government, which is up from 23% in 2024 and in line with the 35% who trusted the federal government in 2022. (The Partnership didn’t perform a nationally representative survey in 2023.) 

The increase is largely due to the 42% of Republicans who now say they trust the government compared with 10% in 2024. Historically, Democrats and Republicans are more trusting of the government if their party controls the White House. As such, 31% of Democrats responded that they trust the government, which is down from 39% in 2024. 

While those in the 18-34 demographic were the least likely to trust the government in 2024 (15%), they’re now the age group with the highest level of trust (36%), with 35- to 49-year-olds the second highest. 

Trust in government by Republicans younger than 50 increased fivefold between 2024 and 2025 (9% to 46%), while trust by GOP respondents aged 50 and over grew from 11% to just 38%. 

The opposite was true for Democrats. Trust in government for Democrats 50 and over decreased from 49% to 27%, but trust among those under 50 actually increased slightly from 34% to 35%. 

Additionally, the percentage of respondents who agreed that the federal government is wasteful decreased from 85% in 2024 to 61% in 2025, with reductions among Democrats, Republicans and Independents. 

Elon Musk led the Department of Government Efficiency with the goal of eliminating waste; although, critics argue that it non-strategically slashed agency workforces and worsened federal services.

“It is unclear whether the decrease was due to views that DOGE was being successful and that the government is now more aligned with their policy priorities, or perhaps that the public was learning more about the government’s activities and felt there was less waste than previously thought,” according to the report. 

In June, the Partnership released survey data that found most Americans opposed the layoffs of federal workers and agency funding cuts.