The poll shows that public views of Musk are increasingly polarized, with Republican support of the billionaire rising while Democratic support falls.

The poll shows that public views of Musk are increasingly polarized, with Republican support of the billionaire rising while Democratic support falls.

Elon Musk’s support among Democrats has withered to a new low as he has embraced Republican politics, according to a national NBC News poll.

Only 6% of Democrats in the poll, which was conducted Sept. 13-17, said they had positive feelings about Musk, while 79% said they had negative feelings. The numbers were flipped for Republicans, with 62% having positive feelings toward him and 14% negative feelings. Independents were split, 31% to 36%.

The poll shows that views of Musk are increasingly polarized, reflecting the transformation of his public image in recent years from that of an environmentally aware automaker crusading against fossil fuels to that of a conservative activist aligned with former President Donald Trump.

    • mycodesucks@lemmy.world
      17·
      2 months ago

      YOU might not. But I’m sure the politicians and bureaucrats who determine whether Musk’s businesses continue getting billions in taxpayer funded subsidies would sure like to know if the public is behind continuing to do that. I for one would consider it a bonus if say, the Democrats won control in November, looked at the numbers and decided none of their supporters are behind Musk, determined he’s been playing fast and loose using taxpayer dollars to fund pushing his own political agenda, and turned off the free ride.

        • mycodesucks@lemmy.world
          3·
          2 months ago

          They don’t. But if they already have it in for someone, which the Democrats in Congress almost certainly do right now, public opinion can give them a cover to act.

          It’s certainly not for our benefit, but if one group of shitlords wants to take another shitlord down a few pegs, I’m certainly going to enjoy the show.

    • Soup@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      Right? Just said the same thing. Man. Journalism is getting cringey and embarrassing lately.

    • beebarfbadger@lemmy.world
      20·
      2 months ago

      The next tesla model will have a coal oven inside it. Will still run on electricity, the oven is just in there so you can do some pollution too. The main factor in making the electric part palpable to republicans will be telling them how brown people are being exploited to get the materials for the batteries out of the ground.

      • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
        5·
        2 months ago

        Nah, it will be worse. Tesla will start selling a hybrid model with a generator onboard that can charge the battery as you go. That generator will be designed to be fueled by ground-up burning tires, unrecycleable plastic, and human hair. .

  • LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world
    516·
    2 months ago

    Fuck Elon

    Fuck Tesla

    Fuck Xitter

    Fuck Spa Sex

    Fuck Starlink

    Did I miss anyone? Oh yes, and Fuck Elon.

    • Cheems@lemmy.world
      312·
      2 months ago

      They bought a Tesla and now feel like they have to defend their decision

      • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
        53·
        2 months ago

        That number seems way too low with how far over to the right the party has become in recent years. There’s almost zero progressive representation.

      • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
        952·
        2 months ago

        Haha I think I met one!

        Dude was a eco-friendly pro-Kamala pro-weed driving a Tesla.

        When I made a joke about buying a Tesla before Elon went crazy, he kinda sheepishly shrugged and then excitedly talked about all the new things Tesla is coming out with.

        • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
          484·
          2 months ago

          Being excited about technological progress at Tesla or SpaceX doesn’t mean you’re a fan or supporter of Musk. These companies are full of thousands of engineers doing this work while the absentee CEO is spending his time shitposting and driving Twitter into the ground.

            • Zement@feddit.nl
              211·
              2 months ago

              True. If the engineers and market experts would have had a say in this, they would have made a Micro-Van.

              6 Seats, 3.5x1.8 meters, 300km range, flat pack floor folding seats in the back… AND ALLOWED IN EUROPE FOR NOT BEING A PEDESTRIAN KILLING MACHINE.

                • Zement@feddit.nl
                  2·
                  2 months ago

                  Yeah but maybe smaller. Real innovation needs courage. A K-Car sized Utilitarian Tesla could have lead the way, but they literally fucked up badly.

                  Where is the Roadster 2 btw?

              • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
                3·
                2 months ago

                I’d love someone to make a small (at least by today’s standards) electric pickup similar to a 90s ranger or S10. If there was a cargo van I’d certainly consider it though.

                • clif@lemmy.world
                  1·
                  2 months ago

                  Remember when small trucks were small? I remember. My 2008 Tacoma (which used to be a small truck) seems about the same size as a 90s model Silverado.

                  I remember the late 90s Tacomas and S10s. I want them back.

                  But, I do think we hit critical mass because newer ones seem to be shrinking again… I think.

            • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
              17·
              2 months ago

              I 100% agree with that and think they need to kick him to the curb. What influence and publicity he could generate for the companies 10 years ago is now long gone and has now transformed into a giant liability.

              • Furbag@lemmy.world
                4·
                2 months ago

                I’m honestly shocked that the board hasn’t gotten rid of him yet. he’s just a massive source of problems for them. My suspicion is that he is so good at creating controversy that they can time their watches to it, so to speak, and buy/sell their positions in the company while Elon takes all the heat from the SEC for insider trading, not the crooked board members who know he’s a total whacko but acknowledge the reality that he has a lot of gullible techbros with too much money on their hands hanging on his every word and they will rush to buy Tesla stock or Dogecoin or whatever if Elon says he’s making market moves when he’s actually running his classic pump-and-dump schemes.

                • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
                  2·
                  2 months ago

                  There’s gotta be some truth to this as I was astounded that they approved that $50+ billion payout that he recently received after threatening to quit. In recent years, Tesla has really floundered and is rapidly losing marketshare with each passing day mostly due to Musk’s actions. In what world does that deserve a singular payout valued higher than most corporations earn in an entire year?

          • Kalysta@lemm.ee
            1·
            2 months ago

            Unfortunately that CEO is giving them all a bad name. And the cybertruck is enough of a disaster that it’s destroying the reputation of Tesla by itself.

            I don’t know if you can call the cybertruck progress when it’s fucking up basic stuff already worked out in normal cars. Like manual door releases.

          • WalnutLum@lemmy.ml
            4·
            2 months ago

            It’s important to take Tesla and SpaceX at face value and not to extrapolate future success based on what they’ve accomplished.

            Edit: for anyone that follows SpaceX’s current shenanigans, seems like they’ve been using the FAA to scoot permits to launch without proper authorization from other agencies (notably the EPA)

            Shit is getting VERY juicy: https://fixupx.com/RepKiley/status/1839066996274516417

            They’ve even got representatives just kind of going along with their demonstrably false narrative for the ride.

        • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
          551·
          2 months ago

          Full Self Driving super soon except you still need to intervene regularly and also robotaxis will never work so it’s pointless anyway!

            • Zron@lemmy.world
              181·
              2 months ago

              The worst part is we could definitely have a mars base with today’s technology.

              It’s just not economically or scientifically necessary to set up. Robots can do 99% of what a human can on mars, scientifically speaking, and if they break we can just build another one. If someone dies on mars, it’s gonna global news for weeks.

              And mars doesn’t exactly have a huge open pit of platinum or something we want to mine, so there’s no economic incentive to set up a colony.

              Musk just wants to sell the sci-fi vaporware fantasy to shareholders because SpaceX has one viable product and he’s desperate for no one to notice that.

              • Logi@lemmy.world
                32·
                2 months ago

                SpaceX has one viable product

                Two. I can’t even figure out whether you’re ignoring Starlink or their space launch business. But yeah, the Elonville on Mars obsession makes about as much sense as the Cybertruck.

                • Zron@lemmy.world
                  1·
                  2 months ago

                  I honestly don’t consider starlink to be a SpaceX product.

                  I’d technically owned and operated by them because SpaceX owns starlink LLC, but they did it that way to boost their launch contracts for their one viable product: falcon 9 launches.

                  So since they wanted to split starlink off into its own company, that just so happens to rely 100% on SpaceX for all contracts, then I’ll give it to them. Starlink is its own company. Which means SpaceX still only has one product.

              • dgmib@lemmy.world
                3·
                2 months ago

                Which is good because mars will be about the only inhabitable planet in the solar system if Trump has another term.

          • v_krishna@lemmy.mlEnglish
            143·
            2 months ago

            Waymo is already operating fully autonomous self driving taxis in SF. Price point is about the same as uber/lyft, a bit cheaper since no tip. And they are all hella nice Jaguars. The difference is Waymo uses lidar and radar to make it work (and also did intensive mapping of city streets). Still needs a lot of work to scale (they do dumb things, but so do human drivers, and are limited to the city so I can’t take one to or from my home in Berkeley yet) but they fully exist and are a viable option today.

            • webadict@lemmy.world
              63·
              2 months ago

              Waymo sucks. They get stuck a lot, tend to cost as much or more than Uber and Lyft, and you basically hope they don’t get stuck trying to navigate around situations because you basically wait until remote assistance fixes it. Also, if you live anywhere near where they park the things, you want Waymo to die in a fire because they honk. ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

                • Furbag@lemmy.world
                  4·
                  2 months ago

                  They get confused and think they are sitting in traffic that isn’t moving, so they occasionally let out a honk. Multiply it by dozens of vehicles and it’s just a cacophony of honking cars with nobody in them.

            • RinseDrizzle@midwest.socialEnglish
              9·
              2 months ago

              Man, after years as a valet ages ago I’m so anti Jaguar. Every single time one came through, it had problems. Owners constantly griped about it being in and out the shop a bunch. Nice at a glance, but plenty of the “luxury” brands are apparently made with fucking plastic and band aids.

            • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
              13·
              2 months ago

              I know, I’m in the industry.

              Edit: downvotes? Oh, I guess I’m not. Good job, y’all.

    • frezik@midwest.social
      61·
      2 months ago

      You almost always have a few percent of nonsensical responses in a poll. People who hate sandwiches but love peanut butter and jelly stuck between two pieces of bread. It’s so consistent that the lack of it is an indication the poll was rigged or badly done.

  • Kalysta@lemm.ee
    2·
    2 months ago

    Why are we doing popularity polls on billionares? Unless he’s running for office the default for all normal Americans should just be eat the rich.

    • MisterD@lemmy.ca
      1·
      2 months ago

      Well Taylor Swift is now a billionaire and she popular af.

      Emo:

      • treats his employees like shit (some are even suing)
      • he sends money to the fascist felon
      • actively supports the fascist felon on Shitter and IRL
      • trying to extort 56 billion from Tesla (to keep him motivated)
  • linearchaos@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    2 months ago

    Is that the 6% that are buying Tesla’s? Seriously though it’s not like the right are buying his electric cars

  • TacticsConsort@yiffit.net
    7·
    2 months ago

    Christ, he’s ACTUALLY managed to hit the Lizardman Constant with the dems.

    Now hit it with the Repubs too. Come on Trump. You wanna turn on your ally. You wanna turn on your ally and throw him to your cult soooooo badly. It’ll be really funny I promise

    • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.oneEnglish
      4·
      2 months ago

      Trump is easy to manipulate. Go on Truth Social, astroturf the shit out of the idea that Musk is going to backstab Trump. Sit back and enjoy the show.

    • Notyou@sopuli.xyz
      3·
      2 months ago

      Many many people are saying it. Trump would have won if Musky Leon actually was a man of his word and ran those Trump ads on X. He promised $45 million of ads during the RNC, but Leon ended up just charging $45 million for the first ad.

  • garretble@lemmy.worldEnglish
    124·
    2 months ago

    “I, a genius, will alienate the group who want EVs to curry favor with the group who will never buy EVs. Genius, I say.”