Musk's Political Prancing Crushed His Brand W. Core Demographic, And Conservatives Aren't Buying EVs Either

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US liberals have become so disgusted with Tesla since Elon Musk’s rightward turn that they are now not only far less likely to purchase the car brand but also less willing to buy any type of electric car, new research has found. The popularity of Tesla among liberal-minded Americans has plummeted since Musk, Tesla’s chief executive and the world’s richest person, allied himself with Donald Trump and helped propel the president to election victory last year.

While liberals reported mostly positive intentions around buying an electric car in August 2023, their overall support for EVs eroded in the wake of a collapse in their opinion of Teslas, according to the new study, which polled Americans on an array of environmental actions. By the latest poll, taken in March as Musk was gutting the federal workforce in his role as Trump’s top adviser after delivering what appeared to be a Nazi salute, the intention to buy any EV among liberals slipped into negative territory.

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However, the new study found that Musk’s rightwing shift has not made conservative Americans more likely to buy a Tesla or any electric car, despite separate polling showing that Republican voters now have a more favorable view of the car company than they once did. Views on Musk are also sharply divided between conservatives and liberals. Even as liberals dramatically changed their views of Tesla, and to a lesser extent EVs, most conservatives remain skeptical of both and have been consistently unwilling to consider buying an electric car in the past two years of polling.

While buying an electric vehicle was the most politically polarized environmental action when the researchers’ polling began, more so than installing solar panels or even eating less red meat, Democrats and Republicans are now more in line than they were following Musk’s political foray. “We thought that liberals would be pretty stable because EVs are so historically associated with the green movement and that Musk’s rightward turn would bring conservatives on board,” said Flores. “But the opposite happened – over time conservatives remained relatively steady in their lack of interest in EVs and Tesla, while liberals’ attitudes really dropped. They are now equally unlikely to buy an EV as they are a Tesla.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/30/elon-musk-tesla-liberals-electric-vehicles