Shifts in Republican Sentiment toward Elon Musk
It seems that Republicans’ feelings towards tech billionaire Elon Musk have taken a turn after a public spat with President Trump last week. A recent poll indicates that respondents have a “very favorable” view of Musk, but it’s a change from the sentiment expressed in April.
A fourth of those surveyed by the Associated Press Civil Servant Research Center indicated that their view of Musk was “very favorable”—a drop from 38% noted in April.
Interestingly, many seem to have switched to a “somewhat favorable” opinion of him. In April, 29% of Republicans expressed mild support for Musk; that figure increased to 38% in June.
When looking at combined favorable opinions, the numbers remained quite stable, with “somewhat” and “very” positive ratings holding steady at around 64%, only slightly up from 67% in April.
Meanwhile, 10% of Republicans maintained a “very unfavorable” opinion in both polls. The “somewhat unfavorable” perspective saw a slight increase, moving from 15% in April to 18% in June.
Musk has been a significant ally and campaign contributor to Trump. However, their relationship soured after Musk criticized aspects of Trump’s domestic policy, leading to a public feud that escalated last Friday.
Following the fallout, Musk reflected on his comments and somewhat backtracked. “I regret some of my posts about President Trump last week. They’ve gone too far,” he stated on his platform, X, just days after their relationship appeared to unravel.
Similar to Republicans, Musk’s overall approval ratings among Democrats also showed little fluctuation. About one-third of all adults surveyed this month reported having “very” or “somewhat” positive feelings toward Musk, consistent with 32% from April.
In June, 10% of Democrats reported a “very” or “somewhat” positive view of Musk, a slight increase from 9% in April.
The AP poll, which included responses from all 50 states and involved 1,158 adults in Washington, D.C., was conducted from June 5 to June 9. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.
