President Donald Trump’s dramatic and chaotic efforts to downsize the federal workforce are hitting close to home in Anne Arundel County, a new survey finds.

Of the 2,213 people questioned for a spring survey by Anne Arundel Community College’s Center for the Study of Local Issues, 23% selected the “Economy — Loss of job or income due to changes in the federal government” as one of the top two issues facing the county.

About 60,000 individuals and families in Anne Arundel County rely on federal incomes, according to the county. The dependence on federal income is more acute in some communities, such as the area around Fort Meade, where 42% of workers are employed by the federal government.

Still, survey designer Dan Nataf said, it “was definitely a surprise” that concerns about the federal government overhaul came in third behind general dismay about the economy and taxes.

“To me, it’s the headline event,” said Nataf, an AACC political science professor who leads the center.

Nataf’s team surveyed the county residents, who were at least 18, in the field from March 28 to April 6. They weighted the dataset by gender, political affiliation, age, race, County Council district and education.

He said there was “a shockingly predictable partisan flavor” to public perceptions of the changes taking place in the federal government.

On one side, about 84% of respondents who identified as Republicans selected one of two answers that described cost-cutting by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency as “necessary.

“It’s clearly the case that if you are a Republican, you are generally sympathetic to what Trump, Musk and DOGE are trying to do,” Nataf said. “You essentially accept the argument that there is a lot of waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.”

On the other hand, 72% of Democratic respondents said the effort was “mostly unnecessary.”

There was “some general feeling if you’re on the left or even in the middle that there’s a lack of due process and that the DOGE process is not well-executed,” Nataf said.

About 60% of county residents surveyed said they believed DOGE would have a negative impact on Maryland’s economy.

Nataf conducts his survey twice a year, every fall and spring. After Trump took office and made headlines with his slash-and-burn approach to downsizing the government, Nataf said he knew he had to add questions about it to the spring survey.

One of the biggest changes from fall to spring was residents’ concern about unemployment. In the fall, 26% of respondents expressed concern about unemployment. Come spring, 46% of those surveyed were concerned about unemployment. The U.S. unemployment rate in March was 4.2%.

“When asked about whether an economic condition affects themselves or their household, the percentage saying unemployment rose from 11% to 23%,” Nataf wrote in a summary of the findings.

Nataf’s team asked residents about the county’s response to the sweeping federal layoffs, with 42% of respondents saying they had no opinion.

The nonprofit Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corporation hosted a job fair in Odenton in March and has started a five-part workshop series for federal employees.