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.

  • garretble@lemmy.world
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    1 month 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.”

    • NJSpradlin@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      He has to satisfy the guys they fronted him the billions he needed to buy and destroy Twitter.

      • celsiustimeline@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 month ago

        The fact that MBS gave Elon $22B in order to buy Twitter gets swept under the rug in literally every discussion. If the narrative was true, that Elon was forced to buy Twitter because he didn’t know when to stop running his mouth, why would MBS be cool with throwing $22B at a thing without any hope of seeing an ROI?

        • NJSpradlin@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          The ROI is the destruction of a social media platform that enabled global protest and solidarity movements toward equality and equity of the lower and middle classes against our global elite; anti hijab movements, women’s equal rights in Muslim countries, black lives matters in western countries, the revolution in France over the retirement age, to name a few.

          Edit: and let’s not forget the impact this has had on growing conservative movements, increased foreign interference in US politics, and the weakening of western democracy.

    • tabarnaski@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      He’s just seeing what Trump and the GOP are planning for the US and hopes he’ll be one of the oligarchs at the top in the end.

    • celsiustimeline@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 month ago

      It’s a strong play if the idea was to take money from oil companies, come into a car company after it was already established, apply his brash personality as the defacto brand of the business, and then crater the sales of that company while the Fed applies 100% tariffs to Chinese EVs, essentially destroying the EV market for anyone who makes under 100k a year.