A new Illinois poll commissioned by Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker finds President Donald Trump and his cost-cutting czar Elon Musk’s early administration actions aren’t quite popular.
A Global Strategy Group poll of 800 “likely 2026 voters” conducted Feb. 5 through Feb. 9 found more than 50% of those surveyed called Trump’s actions “extremely concerning.”
Of those polled, 56% called Trump unfavorable, including 49% who called him very unfavorable. For Musk, 56% called him unfavorable, with 50% dubbing him very unfavorable. Democrats were the most negative on Musk and Trump, but independents viewed both unfavorably as well.
A party line split was evident in the poll, with 90% of Republican voters saying they approved of Trump, and 83% saying they approved of Musk. Among independents, 40% approved of Trump, and 38% approved of Musk.
The poll also delved into some of Trump and Musk’s actions, with 57% of those polled calling any move to end an initiative to lower the cost of prescription drugs “extremely concerning.” Eliminating government programs including health care, Meals on Wheels and child care; eliminating all members of the Aviation Safety Board; pardoning all the Jan. 6 rioters; and eliminating the Department of Education were among the most concerning topics for those polled.
It is notable that Pritzker’s team released the poll, and it shows the Democratic governor is prepared for a political fight ahead — both in terms of a potential third term for governor, or a 2028 presidential bid.
Pritzker has been criticizing Trump since his first gubernatorial campaign began in 2017. But now he’s aiming his ire at Musk as well — and has frequently railed against the billionaire adviser at Illinois press conferences.
At a Wednesday briefing at the Illinois State Capitol, Pritzker blamed Musk for the unpredictability of federal funding and its effects on the state budget. And he used a collective “we” when talking about Musk and Trump.
“We don’t know what they’re going to do. And you’ve seen that. You know, Elon Musk comes out with tweets about Social Security that turned out to be completely false,” Pritzker said. “…We don’t know what they’re going to do. We don’t know whether they’re going to cut off the Medicaid expansion across the country. They’ve been hearing from Republican governors, just like they have from Democratic governors about the negative impact on the people of their state.”
Despite the poll’s negative approval rating for Trump, the Republican president’s statewide vote grew to 43.8% last year, up from 38.76% in 2016.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.