On average, American voters currently believe that 44 cents out of every dollar spent by the federal government is wasted. That result comes from a Scott Rasmussen national survey of 1,200 Registered Voters conducted October 6-9, 2021.
This result is consistent with a long history of survey data compiled by Gallup. Since 1979, voters have estimated that anywhere from 38 to 51 cents out of every federal dollar is wasted.
The lowest levels of estimated waste were found during Ronald Reagan’s Administration in the 1980s.