CNN data guru Harry Enten offered a humbling analysis of the popularity of the world’s richest man Tuesday evening, noting that Elon Musk’s polling numbers were so bad, he was pulling down President Donald Trump.
Anchor Erin Burnett reported on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reacting to Musk’s support of German far-right political party AfD and comments saying Germans should “move beyond” the “past guilt” over the Holocaust. “I disagree completely with Elon Musk and what he is doing,” said Scholz, calling what the billionaire was doing “really disgusting,” especially coming so close to Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
“These are unbelievable comments” from Musk, said Burnett, and “obviously huge news” for the world’s richest man to be so openly attempting to influence elections around the globe. “But he is not speaking into a void,” she continued, but instead “speaking out into a world where [his] standing has changed.”
“Elon Musk isn’t just pissing off Germans,” said Enten. “He’s pissing off Americans, too. You can see this in his net favorability ratings.”
“Once upon a time, Elon Musk was pretty well-liked nationally in the United States,” Enten continued, as a graphic went up on the screen showing Musk up plus-29 points in 2016 and then falling to a minus-3 right before the 2024 election — and then now this month, down to minus-13.
“That’s going in the wrong direction,” he said, joking that Musk was “falling down the mountain like I do when I try and ski.”
“He is, at this particular point, not a popular man, neither in Germany and certainly not in the United States,” Enten emphasized.
Burnett commented that those polling numbers were a “precipitous decline for Musk” and asked if, since Musk was “always with Trump,” his falling popularity was “related to Trump in any way?”
“Donald Trump is a more popular guy than Elon Musk is,” replied Enten. “That’s the bottom line.” The president’s net favorable rating was “hanging right around that zero mark,” he continued, and then “you see Elon Musk there with a minus-13.”
“If anything, Musk is pulling Trump down — not the other way around,” and Musk was “actually potentially someone who can make Trump less well-liked in this country,” he said.
Burnett said she knew “personally of people who have gotten rid of their Teslas because of Elon Musk, but that it seems to be at least very much the exception, not the rule, right?” asking Enten if Musk’s antics were “impacting business” for Tesla.
Enten said he didn’t think it was helping, bringing up the figures for global deliveries of Teslas, there was “real growth” in 2022 and 2023, with an increase of 40% and 38% respectively, but then that fell in 2024 to a -1%, a drop “for the first time in a very long time.”
“So look, this isn’t helping Elon Musk,” concluded Enten. “There are a lot of things going on in the car business, but this relationship ain’t working for him.”
Watch the clip above via CNN.
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