Billionaire Elon Musk may have been one of the central figures in the 2024 presidential election and Republican voters now view him more favorably than a year ago after Donald Trump won the election.
What Happened: Musk endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential election and campaigned for the president-elect in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.
Since helping Trump win the 2024 election, Musk has been named to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, or D.O.G.E for short, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.
Musk will likely play a central role in the Trump administration going forward and it comes as Republicans have a more favorable opinion of the billionaire.
A Morning Consult poll conducted on Nov. 6 and Nov. 7 after Trump won the election found that 72% of Republicans had a favorable view of Musk, up from 52% a year ago. The poll found that 17% of Republican had an unfavorable view of Musk. The remaining respondents said they had heard of Musk and had no opinion (10%) or had never heard of Musk (1%).
For comparison, here is how Musk's favorable and unfavorable ratings compare to other key Republican figures. The following are the percent of Republican voters who said they viewed each person favorable or unfavorable:
- Donald Trump: 87% favorable, 11% unfavorable
- Republicans in Congress: 83% favorable, 12% unfavorable
- J.D. Vance: 74% favorable, 12% unfavorable
- Mike Johnson: 39% favorable, 14% unfavorable
- Mitch McConnell: 29% favorable, 37% unfavorable
The poll shows Musk's favorable rating ranking nearly the same as vice-president-elect Vance. Musk also is viewed more favorable by Republicans than that of Speaker of the House Johnson and current Senate Minority Leader McConnell.
Musk does have the second worst unfavorable rating at 17%, ranking only ahead of McConnell, who has often clashed with Trump and members of his own party.
The poll also found that 53% of Republicans said Musk should play "a major role" in the Trump administration moving forward. This ranked ahead of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who saw 49% of Republican voters say he should play a major role moving forward.
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Why It's Important: Musk is viewed much more favorably by Republican voters than Democrats and Independent voters according to the latest poll.
The poll found that Democratic voters view Musk more unfavorable (71%) than favorable (17%). This is a big change from a year ago when Musk had a favorable rating of 32% and unfavorable rating of 46% from Democratic voters.
Independent voters are also more likely to have an unfavorable view of Musk (48%) than a favorable one (36%). This is a change from a year ago when 40% had unfavorable views of Musk and 34% viewed him favorable.
Overall, Musk had a favorable rating of 42% and unfavorable rating of 45% across all voters, compared to 40% favorable and 36% unfavorable a year ago.
Morning Consult has conducted the poll asking for views on Musk four times based on the latest poll, with results coming for April 2022, June 2022, November 2023 and November 2024.
Musk had his highest overall favorable rating of 45% from all voters back in April 2022.
While Musk's favorable rating is up to 72% and his unfavorable rating was down compared to a year ago amongst Republican voters, Musk had a lower unfavorable rating from Republican voters of 13% back in April 2022.
One of the key questions moving forward is if Musk's support of Trump, who has been a vocal critic of electric vehicles will hurt Tesla Inc TSLA.
Based on the surging price of Tesla stock since the 2024 election, Tesla investors see a Trump win as a positive with shares up 14.8% on the day after the election. Tesla stock is up 24.6% since the closing price on Election Day.
Trump's win could see the end of federal credits for electric vehicles, which could be negative for the sector. Tesla may not lose as much as the company is profitable and has large scale compared to electric vehicle competitors.
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