What do Republicans think of Elon Musk? What a poll found after feud with Trump

Miami Herald

16 hours ago

In the wake of his public feud with President Donald Trump, Elon Musk's popularity with Republicans has waned slightly, according to new polling.
In the latest AP-NORC survey, 26% of Republicans said they had a very favorable opinion of the billionaire businessman. By comparison, that figure stood at 38% in April, marking a 12-point decline over the course of two months.
Overall, though, a majority of GOP respondents, 64%, said they had either a very or somewhat favorable view of Musk, which is only down 3 points from 67% in April.
Meanwhile, Democrats expressed slightly less aversion to Musk.
Sixty-five percent of Democrats said they have a very unfavorable view towards the South African-born SpaceX CEO. This is down from 74% in April, marking a 9-point shift.
But, the overall share of Democrats who have either a very or somewhat unfavorable view has remained relatively steady — dropping just 2 points from 87% to 85%.
And, among Americans generally, Musk's popularity, or lack thereof, has not changed much. Fifty-seven percent of all respondents have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of him, while 34% have a somewhat or very favorable view. In April, these figures stood at 57% and 32%, respectively.
The latest poll — which sampled 1,158 U.S. adults June 5-9 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points — came one week after Musk and Trump had an explosive falling out. The rift, which played out publicly, appeared to end the high-profile partnership between the world's richest man with the world's most powerful man.
It began on June 5, when, during a White House press event, Trump said he was 'very disappointed' with Musk over his opposition to the GOP-backed spending bill. He also claimed Musk — who formally left his position at the Department of Government Efficiency days earlier — may be suffering from 'Trump Derangement Syndrome.'
In response, Musk posted a series of inflammatory messages on X directed at the president.
'Without me, Trump would have lost the election,' he wrote, adding 'Such ingratitude.'
He also claimed the president is named in the Epstein files — a series of documents related to investigations of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — and shared a post calling for Trump to be impeached. Musk later deleted the post, AP reported.
Later, Trump accused Musk of having gone 'CRAZY' and told CNN 'I'm not even thinking about Elon. He's got a problem.'
In recent days, Musk has taken a conciliatory approach.
'I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week,' he wrote on X on June 11. 'They went too far.'
That post came after a phone call between the two men on June 9, according to the New York Times.