I'll search for current assessments of the administration's impact on government to give you a balanced view.
Whether Donald Trump is improving the U.S. government is disputed and depends on the metric and political perspective.
Public Opinion Is Divided and Mostly Negative
Polling shows more Americans say Trump is making government work worse than better:
•An August 4-10, 2025 Pew Research Center survey of 3,554 adults found a 53% majority say Trump is making the federal government work worse, while only about half as many (27%) say he is making the government work better.
•Earlier, less than a month into his second term, the public was evenly split: 41% say Trump’s administration will improve the way the federal government works, and 42% say it will make things worse.
•The August survey also found more negative assessments even among his own party than expected at inauguration: 55% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents now say Trump is improving the way the federal government works – while 16% say he’s making things worse and 29% say his effect is a mix compared to 76% of Republicans expected he would make government work better in the weeks after he took office, while 87% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say Trump is worsening the way government functions.
Other surveys show similar partisan splits:
•87 percent of self-identified Democrats believe government performance has gotten worse under Trump, while 60 percent of self-identified Republicans believe it has gotten better.
Overall job approval has also been negative:
•Six months into his second term, Pew found his job approval at 38% (60% disapprove).
•Other trackers in late 2025/2026 put net approval around -19.5 and approval between 33% and 40% depending on pollster.
A separate survey on trust in government found only 27% of the public say they trust the federal government while 72% say it is "corrupt" and 75% say that it is "wasteful.", with the report stating the crisis of confidence has been exacerbated during the last two years by haphazard actions taken by the Trump administration including indiscriminate funding cuts, workforce reductions and unilateral actions bypassing Congress.
What Supporters Point To as Improvements
The White House and supporters argue Trump has improved government efficiency and reduced regulatory burden:
•The White House's "Reform Government (DOGE)" page states Government efficiency efforts have saved an estimated $215 billion, equivalent to $1,335 per U.S. taxpayer.
•The Office of Management and Budget reported the administration finalized 646 deregulatory actions that saved about $211.8 billion through the end of October.
•A White House summary claims The Trump Administration's unprecedented government efficiency reforms have already saved an estimated $215 billion — about $1,335 per taxpayer — and shrunk the federal workforce to its lowest level since 1966 and that its deregulatory mandate is projected to save $1.5 trillion in FY2026 alone.
•Supporters more broadly point to a catalogue framed as tax relief, deregulation, energy investments, and stock-market gains as evidence of improvement.
White House materials also cite initiatives like automating federal retirements via "retire.opm.gov" after decades of records being stored in an underground mine, and consolidating procurement to eliminate waste.
What Critics Point To as Worsening
Critics and watchdog reports point to costs and disruptions from the same efficiency drive:
•The Government Accountability Office reported The US government paid federal workers $9.5bn not to work in 2025 as part of the Trump administration's attempts to shrink the federal workforce and that federal agencies' use of paid administrative leave rose 435% from 2023 to 2025 – costing six times what the government spent in 2023.
•The increase was linked to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative spearheaded by Elon Musk.
•Pew found that by more than two-to-one, Americans say the administration’s actions have been worse than they expected (50%) rather than better (21%).
Views of specific policies also affect perceptions of government performance. For example, Pew in August found 61% of Americans disapprove of Trump's tariff policies, while 38% approve.
Summary
There is no consensus measure of "improving" government.
•If improvement is measured by White House-stated metrics of deregulation, workforce reduction and claimed cost savings, supporters say government is more efficient.
•If measured by public perception polls, majority opinion currently says government is working worse, with sharp partisan divergence.
•If measured by independent watchdog accounting like GAO, the efficiency effort both claimed savings and incurred large new costs for paid leave.
Evaluation therefore depends on which outcomes — fiscal savings, deregulation, service delivery, trust in institutions, or public approval — are prioritized.