Independents side with Trump on tax cuts and eliminating wasteful spending
2025-02-16
Category: political

Independent voters in a Fox News Digital focus group approved of President Donald Trump's promise to cut taxes and eliminate wasteful government spending. Voters responded to Trump discussing his plan to make the government more efficient and cut taxes for families while at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 23.&nbsp; "I have promised to eliminate ten old regulations for every new regulation which will soon put many thousands of dollars back in the pockets of American families to further unleash our economy," Trump said. "Our majorities in the House and Senate, which we also took along with the presidency — we are going to pass the largest tax cut in American history, including massive tax cuts for workers and family and big tax cuts for domestic producers and manufacturers. And we're working with the Democrats on getting an extension of the original Trump tax cuts, as you probably know by just reading any paper," he continued. INDEPENDENT VOTERS SHOW SIGNIFICANT DISAPPROVAL OF DEMOCRATIC ANTICS AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP  The focus group consisted of 75 Democrats,&nbsp;49 independents and&nbsp;32 Republicans, and their reactions were represented by blue, yellow and red lines, respectively.&nbsp; Independents and Republicans were on board with Trump's plan to save taxpayers money. Democrats slightly disapproved at the start of Trump's comments before their reaction remained steady, the Fox News Dial shows. Lee Carter, a communications strategist and president of Maslansky + Partners, said that Trump's regulation and tax cuts were popular with the group. However, many feared these cuts wouldn't happen. The group also reacted to Trump discussing the future of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in an exclusive interview with Fox News' Bret Baier last Sunday. NEW POLL REVEALS WHICH TRUMP POLICIES AMERICANS LOVE AND HATE  "We have to solve the efficiency problem. We have to solve the fraud, waste, abuse, all the things that have gone into the government," Trump said. "You take a look at the USAID, the kind of fraud in there that you found significant damage. Well, we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars of money that's going to places where it shouldn't be going, where if I read a list, you'd say, this is ridiculous and you've read the same lists and there are many that you haven't even seen. It's crazy. It's a big scam now." "There's some good money and we can do that through any one of a number. I think I'd rather give it to Marco Rubio over at the State Department. Let him take care of the few good ones. So I don't know if it's kickbacks or what's going on, but the people — look, I ran on this, and the people want me to find it. And I've had great help with Elon Musk, who's been terrific," he continued.  Independents and Republicans were in favor of Trump's pledge to tackle the "fraud, waste and abuse" in the federal government. The Democratic line remained flat at first before trending slightly downward.&nbsp; &nbsp;CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST MEDIA AND CULTURE NEWS "Fascinating response," Carter said of the group's reaction. "His message of eliminating fraud, waste, abuse is working."   One participant said, "I actually work with USAID so I don't agree with entirely dismantling, but his messaging was very sensible and reasonable in terms of eliminating fraud and wasteful spending." "Even there, it makes sense," Carter continued. "Trump is bringing common sense back to government. And if Democrats fail to understand this is how it is viewed, they will lose the debate." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP