Is Trump's administration improving the government? I'll gather current data on performance, efficiency, and public opinion to give you a balanced overview.
Whether Donald Trump is improving the US government depends on what metrics are used to define "improving." Evaluations differ sharply:
Arguments That Government Has Improved
1. Border Security and Immigration Enforcement:
The administration points to border enforcement as a major improvement.
•Illegal border crossings have plummeted to the lowest level since 1970 — with the U.S. on track to see net negative migration for the first time in at least five decades.
•By July, illegal border crossings reached their lowest level in recorded U.S. history.
•In February — President Trump’s first month in office — illegal border crossings fell to the lowest level ever recorded, down 94% from last February.
Supporters also point to legislative action including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed July 4, 2025, which poured $45 billion into detention through September 2029, and the administration reports signing over 170 executive orders in its first year advancing border control, education, and federal deregulation.
2. Government Efficiency and Spending:
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was established in January 2025 to reduce the size of government.
Claims of savings include:
•As of Jan. 1, 2026, the Department of Government Efficiency reports $215 billion in savings, or roughly $1,335 per taxpayer
•The U.S. General Services Administration announced it has driven more than $60 billion in federal contract savings since January 2025, as part of the agency's push to shrink the federal real estate footprint in the era of DOGE
The White House has also cited GDP growth of 4.3% in the third quarter of 2025 and bureaucratic cuts that eliminated more than 270,000 federal positions as economic successes.
Arguments That Government Has Not Improved / Has Worsened
1. Public Approval and Economic Concerns:
Recent polling shows historically low approval:
•President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to 32 percent, marking the lowest point of his political career according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on September 21, 2026
•Trump's net approval of -19.5 is far from popular
•Even among Republicans, the share approving of Trump's overall job performance declined from 86% in January 2026 to 73%
On the economy:
•Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, grew at a 1.4 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2025
•The Congressional Budget Office estimates tariffs will increase the average annual inflation rate by 0.4 percentage points in 2025 and 2026 and reduce annual GDP growth by 0.06 percentage points
•The OECD predicts America could have the highest inflation in the G7 by the end of this year at 4.2%
2. DOGE Criticism:
•DOGE has already been disbanded despite having eight months left in its term and is no longer a "centralized entity"
•A congressional watchdog estimated that the Trump administration spent $9.5 billion in 2025 paying federal employees who were not working, tied to DOGE's drive to reduce the workforce, with paid administrative leave jumping 435 percent
•Paid administrative leave rose 435% from 2023 to 2025 — costing six times what the government spent in 2023
3. Institutional and Rule of Law Concerns:
Critics cite concerns about democratic institutions:
•Under President Donald Trump's second term, legal experts perceive a significant erosion of the rule of law, including politicized law enforcement, a dysfunctional separation of powers, and overreach by the executive branch
•Some analyses charge that the administration impounded congressionally-appropriated funds, fired federal prosecutors and career civil servants, and issued executive orders that were called unlawful
Summary
Supporters generally evaluate improvement based on reduced border crossings, deregulation, executive action volume, and claimed spending cuts. Critics generally evaluate improvement based on approval ratings, inflation/GDP performance, continuity of government services, and checks on executive power.
Objective indicators are mixed — border apprehensions are down sharply while economic growth slowed in late 2025 and approval polls have reached record lows for Trump across both terms.