Tech billionaire Elon Musk has seen his public image evaporate as he continues to hitch himself to President Donald Trump and take a hacksaw to federal programs — and it's starting to eat away at Tesla's core business performance, CNN political analyst Harry Enten told anchor John Berman on Monday.
This comes as investors bail on the pioneering electric automaker — including Musk's own brother — and as The New York Times reports even MAGA voters signal they're starting to get fed up with the tycoon who has become Trump's right-hand man.
"Part of this gets to the changing perceptions of Elon Musk in society in general," said Berman.
"Yeah," agreed Enten. "I have rarely ever seen any change of perception as dramatic as this one. I mean, Elon Musk's net favorable rating, it's dropped from +24 to -19 overall from 2017 to 2025. And look at these, look at among Democrats. He used to be beloved by Democrats at +35. Look where it is now. -91 points on the net favorable rating.
"That is a movement of over 120 points in the negative direction, falling through the floor. Now, among Republicans, he has gone up from +18 to +51, but that doesn't at all make up for the gap that the Democrats have completely fallen off the rails for Elon Musk, and among independents, that drop has been from +17 to -17. Look, Donald Trump isn't the most popular president in the world, but he is far more popular than Elon Musk is."
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"So we would focus a lot on what this all means for the country, as Elon Musk exercises a certain amount of power," said Berman. "But another question is, what does it mean for Elon Musk and his companies? Now, we can't be sure there's a one-for-one parallel here, but we are seeing activity."
"We're absolutely seeing activity," said Enten. "I mean, you can see this in terms of new registrations for Teslas in the United States. Car registrations in 2024 versus 2023. Look at that. Down 5 percent. I was interested, did that movement continue into the new year? Absolutely. If anything, it accelerated. Look at this. New car registrations down 11 percent. And this has occurred as other EV carmakers have seen their registrations go up. And it has also occurred as Tesla's registrations and the people buying Teslas worldwide has also dropped. It's not just a U.S. phenomenon."
"Part of the reason is who buys EVs," Berman suggested.
"That's exactly right," confirmed Enten. "Who buys EVs? Look at this. The share of EV owners who are Republicans, just 20 percent. When you're falling with Democrats, falling with independents, you're giving up a large share of the market. And that is a big reason why Tesla is struggling, and Elon Musk is certainly at least driving a little bit of that."
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