What do we know about the DOGE 'young prodigies' and why they can give votes to the Republicans?

For those concerned about billionaire Donald Trump adviser Elon Musk's access to sensitive government data, his group of young computer scientists tasked with shrinking the federal government represents an unregulated threat to privacy. On the right, the view is very different.

Influential conservatives refer to the group of engineers, most of whom are in their early 20s , as some of the world's brightest minds who have been sent to save the federal government from bureaucracy.

This comes at a time when young progressives say they have been marginalized by the Democratic Party and as the party's hold on younger voters is weakening, particularly among men. Republicans are using these contrasting images as a marketing strategy.

Charlie Kirk, founder of the group Turning Point, which has organized turnout campaigns for Republicans, called them “young prodigies” and “stars” with IQs that would “melt the record charts.”

“This is a Gen Z, millennial takeover of the federal government ,” Kirk said on his Feb. 4 podcast. “And we always thought it would come from the left. But that’s the kind of geriatric, nursing home regime that’s driven the country into oblivion. Now young talent is taking over the country for good.”

In the weeks since Trump returned to the White House, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has rapidly infiltrated federal agencies, reshaping the government with few discernible boundaries and seizing sensitive taxpayer data.

Musk, the world’s richest man , has referred to the DOGE team as “some of the best software engineers in the world.” In a recent interview with Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity, Trump praised DOGE employees, calling them “very bright young people.”

“He attracts a very intelligent type of young people,” Trump said of Musk. “I call them high-IQ individuals.”

Many of the DOGE engineers identified in media reports have been linked to Musk’s companies, and some to Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire and longtime Musk acquaintance, according to technology magazine WIRED . One of them resigned and was quickly rehired amid controversy over racist social media posts that have since been deleted. The Wall Street Journal initially linked Marko Elez , a 25-year employee, to an account that posted “I was racist before it was cool” and “Normalize hating Indians.”

Kirk and other conservative voices have applauded the young engineers for putting their talents to work for the Trump administration. Jen Horn, host of the podcast “Happy Women,” said that “these guys … literally live and breathe these numbers.” Fellow conservative Katie Gorka responded: “I’ve often thought that these guys will end up saving us.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had an exchange of posts with Hillary Clinton on X — the social network owned by Musk — about the Trump administration's actions and the plan for DOGE to help improve aviation safety.

“They have no relevant experience,” Clinton said in response to Duffy’s post about getting help from Musk’s team. “Most of them aren’t old enough to rent a car.”

Duffy responded: “We are moving forward without you because the American people want us to make America’s transportation system great again. And yes, we are bringing the 22-year-olds with us.”

The Republicans' rise to prominence of Musk's engineers mirrors how they gained ground among younger voters during the last election.

Trump’s Democratic opponent in 2024, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, narrowly won among voters under 30 , nearly half of whom supported Trump, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters. That was considerably lower than in 2020, when Democrat Joe Biden received about six in 10 votes from voters under 30 during his matchup against then-President Trump. Other age groups also leaned toward Trump last year, but the shift among younger voters was the most pronounced.

For Alex Dwyer, 28, president of the Kansas Federation of Young Republicans, seeing the young DOGE team celebrated has been exciting after feeling for much of his adult life that young people were overlooked in the workplace and at the government level.

“DOGE is showing that the value of our talents and skills is finally being recognized,” Dwyer said. “...The party has finally realized that if you want to attract young people, you have to get them involved in the party.”

Trump’s campaign was particularly successful in reaching young men like Dwyer who were concerned about the economy and unhappy with women’s political advances and the so-called “culture wars,” said Melissa Deckman, managing director of the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit that specializes in political issues related to religious values, and author of “The Politics of Gen Z.”

By turning to alternative media, such as right-wing podcasts and social media sites that provide a platform for far-right views , the Trump campaign went after young people in places it could find them. Deckman added that the celebration around DOGE on social media and podcasts builds on this strategy by repeating the message that young men are being prioritized.

“Historically, you think of the Republican Party as the party of old, white, old-fashioned people who refuse to pass the torch, and suddenly there’s a cultural shift that highlights the contributions of younger people,” he said. “Meanwhile, when given the opportunity to pass the torch, Democrats have not been very successful lately in doing so, and young people are fed up.”

Sunjay Muralitharan, national president of the College Democrats of America, was skeptical that DOGE — which he called an “unconstitutional threat to American democracy” — would attract more young people to the Republican Party.

“Most young people are able to see through this superficial flattery,” he said. “The image of the richest man in the world destroying vital agencies is much more telling in this case.”

There have also been young people who have made an impact on the Democratic Party, such as David Hogg, a gun control activist who was named vice chairman of the party in this month's election, and Maxwell Frost, a U.S. representative from Florida and the youngest member in the House.

“Democrats have a lot of young people in important positions,” said John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. “They’re just not that good at letting us know.”

He added that seeing DOGE engineers having a real-world impact could be an important signal to young people. That could further hamper Democrats’ efforts to recruit a younger generation already questioning what the party had done for them.

“Republicans are seeing a weakness in Democrats in the youth, and they are taking advantage of it,” he said.

Basil Smikle, a Democratic political strategist and professor at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies, said many disaffected young men in particular may see DOGE as a sign that they can wield power. He urged Democratic leaders to get out of the way of young people and diversify their messengers.

"If they don't, the Republicans will go back to the same strategy and beat us at every opportunity," he stressed.