When President Donald Trump speaks about the “deep state,” a new survey explains what he means by it.
The survey found that a wide majority of federal employees who support Democrats and voted for now-former Vice President Kamala Harris said that they would defy Trump’s orders if they believed they were doing what was “best” for the United States, The Daily Caller reported.
“The data, released Thursday by the Napolitan Institute, shows that 76% of voters for former Vice President Kamala Harris working under Trump say they will ‘resist’ his plans, while 75% say they would hypothetically disobey, or ‘do what [they] thought was best,’ when given a legal order that they disagreed with. The Napolitan Institute said the numbers show a ‘deep partisan divide in the Administrative State’ as Trump moves to bring the numerous halls of government in alignment with his agenda,” the report said.
“Our research confirms that the Administrative State is not composed of thoughtful, nonpartisan experts who are making neutral decisions for voters,” Scott Rasmussen, the founder of the Napolitan Institute said. “The deep partisan divide within the federal bureaucracy and the shifting public opinion present significant challenges for the current administration.”
“However, the silver lining is that with such high levels of chaos in this bureaucratic ‘civil war’, there may be an opening for the common sense voice of the American people to rise above the political noise and once again become the shaping force of the nation’s dialogue,” he said.
The poll asked the respondents to “imagine that you were the head of a federal government agency” and “President Trump gave you an order that was legal but you believed was bad policy.”
“Would you follow the president’s order or do what you thought was best?” it said.
A whopping 75 percent of those who responded and who voted for Harris said that they would “do what [they] thought was best,” and another 9 percent said they were not certain. The remaining 16 percent said that they would follow the order.
However, 80% of those who voted for Trump said they would follow the president’s order even if they disagreed, with 2 percent saying that they were not certain and 18 percent saying that they would defy him.
“The Napolitan Institute today released a comprehensive report, The Resistance: The First 100 Days, detailing the findings of surveys conducted among Federal Government Managers, members of the Elite One Percent, and Registered Voters nationwide. The report reveals a highly partisan divide within the federal bureaucracy that confirms that the Administrative State is neither neutral nor non-partisan in its efforts to govern,” the press release said.
“The surveys, conducted in March 2025, two months into the new Administration, highlight significant levels of disagreement between Republican and Democratic Federal Government Managers on key policy initiatives. The findings suggest ongoing resistance to the Trump Administration from Democrats within the federal bureaucracy, with a concerning percentage indicating they would not follow direct, legal orders from the president if they disagreed with him,” it said.
The respondents who voted for Harris said their own “political efforts” will be to either “strongly resist” or “somewhat resist” the president’s agenda by 56 percent and 16 percent said they would “neither support nor resist,” the poll said.
The survey was conducted among 500 officials “living in the National Capitol Region and earning at least $75,000 annually,” with a margin of error of 4 percent.
In January, a poll conducted by RMG Research showed that 42 percent of the same group of people, “federal employees who live in the National Capitol Region around Washington and earn at least $75,000 annually,” planned to oppose the Trump administration, The Daily Signal reported.
“Bureaucracy is the real threat to democracy,” Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, said to The Daily Signal.
“The bureaucrat class has forgotten that their job is to serve the American people, and I am happy to help remind them,” she said. “As the Senate DOGE Caucus Chair, I am rooting out the rot in Washington. Federal employees are paid by taxpayers to work for taxpayers. They can either do their job or find another.”