A leading coalition of state financial officers plans to share new polling data, and a sharpened warning about what it calls an “invisible tax” on American families, with Vice President J.D. Vance’s anti-fraud task force leadership, as the Trump administration’s broader “war on fraud” continues to take shape.
The survey, conducted by Deep Root Analytics and obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire, underscores just how politically potent the issue has become. 87% of voters say they are concerned about fraud or misuse of taxpayer dollars, including 50% who say they are “very concerned.” Another 83% say fraud contributes to higher taxes and rising costs for families, while a majority, 52%, believe little fraud is actually being stopped.
Taken together, the numbers point to a shift: voters are no longer viewing fraud as a niche or bureaucratic issue, but as a direct driver of the affordability crisis.
“Americans rightly understand that fraud is the invisible tax worsening the affordability crisis,” OJ Oleka, CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), told The Daily Wire. “Taxpayer dollars being stolen and wasted by fraudsters isn’t just a criminal issue, it’s an economic one.”
Oleka said the group intends to ensure those concerns are heard at the highest levels of the administration. “We support Vice President Vance’s leadership of the anti-fraud task force and hope these survey results will help guide and strengthen their mission,” he added.
The outreach builds on prior coordination between the group and the administration. As previously reported, SFOF shared its sweeping oversight report with Vance via letter in late February, pledging state-level cooperation as the White House elevated fraud enforcement into a national priority.
That report detailed how SFOF’s network of conservative treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers, spanning 28 states, helped recover or safeguard roughly $28 billion in taxpayer funds in a single year through efforts targeting waste, fraud, abuse, and financial mismanagement.
In that sense, the new polling represents both a political and policy reinforcement of a message the group has been advancing for months: that fraud is not just a law enforcement issue, but a central economic concern.
The administration has increasingly echoed that framing. President Donald Trump tasked Vance with leading a government-wide task force aimed at identifying vulnerabilities in public benefit programs and strengthening safeguards against abuse. Officials have warned that large-scale fraud is draining billions from programs intended to serve vulnerable Americans while undermining public trust.
The administration’s renewed focus on fraud comes as congressional Republicans continue to highlight high-profile cases like the sprawling pandemic-era fraud scandal in Minnesota, which Trump has described as a “stunning example” of systemic failure, and as oversight efforts ramp up heading into the midterms.
That federal push is now converging with state-level efforts already underway, since before the administration formalized its initiative, SFOF members have positioned themselves as frontline watchdogs of taxpayer dollars, a role Oleka reiterated in a recent letter to Vance.
“In the months and years ahead, SFOF and our state financial officers stand ready to support you and everyone in the administration involved in this fight as allies already on the battlefield,” he wrote. “By working together, we can protect our nation’s treasure to the fullest extent against every foe and every plot to endanger it.”
State officials say the polling suggests that approach is aligned with voter sentiment across the political spectrum.
“The survey makes clear that Americans across the political spectrum are concerned about their tax dollars being lost to fraud and waste,” Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks, the group’s national chairman, exclusively told The Daily Wire. “When accountability weakens, the financial burden ultimately falls on households.”
That connection is borne out in the data. A majority of voters, 53%, say government policy, spending, or taxation is the primary driver of rising costs, while 70% say there is too little oversight and support more aggressive fraud investigations.
As the administration leans further into fraud enforcement as both an economic and political issue, with Vance at the center and state-level allies reinforcing the message, the findings are likely to serve as fresh ammunition in what is shaping up to be a defining policy fight ahead of the 2026 midterms.
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