Americans are starting to sour on Elon Musk and Tesla. I know there’s a lot of evidence to support that, whether it’s sales numbers in free fall, a nasty stock price downturn or acts of vandalism against showrooms and vehicles, it’s easy to see people aren’t fans of Musk and Tesla at the moment. Now, though, a new poll is shedding light on just how unpopular the CEO and his car company are.
A CNBC All-America Economy survey found that over 47% of the general public has a negative view of Tesla itself. 24% say they’re neutral and just 27% say they’ve got a positive opinion about the Austin, Texas-based automaker. For comparison: 33% of people say they’ve got a positive view of General Motors, 51% say they’re neutral and only 10% have an outright negative opinion about GM.
Musk’s numbers are just as gnarly as Tesla’s. 48% of the folks polled said they had a negative view of the CEO compared to 36% who say they dig what he’s doing. Somehow, 16% of people are neutral on the man, and I don’t understand why or how. Unsurprisingly, the splits are pretty clear along political party lines. Among Democrats, Musk’s net approval rating is -82. It gets slightly better with a -49 for independents. Of course, the GOP loves their current golden boy, and that’s why he has a +56 among Republicans.
How we got here
All of this negativity comes after months and months of Musk backing President Donald Trump, attempting to dismantle beloved federal programs from within through his DOGE program and cozying up to other far-right political parties around the world. He’s gone out of his way to alienate the very people — liberals — who made Tesla what it is today. He and his company have instead turned to pandering to the right through speeches and imagery on Tesla’s website. Who knows if that’ll actually pay off?
Electric vehicles themselves are nearly as polarizing as Musk, though it’s a bit more evenly split. CNBC’s poll says 35% of Americans have a negative view of EVs, and 33% are sweet on battery-electric cars. Still, it would seem that even folks who like EVs don’t like Musk very much. Men have a +11 net approval for EVs, but they’re evenly divided when it comes to Tesla. Younger folks (18-34) are +19 on EVs but -23 on Tesla itself. The most shocking number probably comes from Democrats. They’re +20 on EVs but a whopping -74 on Tesla. Ouch.
These aren’t numbers that any car company or CEO would want, but they’re what Tesla has to deal with. Ironically, Musk only has himself to blame for this debacle.
