Elon Musk’s companies' ratings tank in latest poll
Ratings for Elon Musk’s companies, Tesla, X (formerly Twitter), and SpaceX, have tanked amid growing discontent with Musk’s involvement in the US government.
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Ratings for Elon Musk’s companies, Tesla, X (formerly Twitter), and SpaceX, have tanked amid growing discontent with Musk’s involvement in the US government.
Elon Musk’s companies have seen a rapid decline in reputation over the past couple of years, which has been accelerated by Musk’s public alignment with the Trump administration.
The Axios Harris poll rated most of Musk’s companies "poor,” with one of his companies receiving a “very poor” rating.
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Tesla Motors is 95th on the list, SpaceX is 86th, which is deemed as “fair,” while X (formerly Twitter) got a “very poor” rating of 98 out of 100.
In 2021, Musk’s companies’ reputation was good, with Tesla Motors and SpaceX securing an “excellent” rating as both companies were positioned 5th (SpaceX) and 8th (Tesla Motors) on the poll.
Since then, his businesses have seen a steady reputational decline, predominantly due to his controversial actions and position in the Trump administration.
Musk’s political involvement has been catastrophic for his companies, so much so that he reportedly had to reduce his involvement in the US government.
President Donald Trump put Musk in charge of the Department of Government Funding (DOGE), a facet of the administration that seeks to cut US spending.
Musk’s work resulted in various job cuts, termination of grants, and cancellation of contracts that the administration sees as a waste of money, which included various diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
For example, the DOGE website said it terminated “262 wasteful contracts with a ceiling value of $1.2 billion and savings of $230 million, including a $13.8 million marketing research DEI contract to provide analytical and initiative support on building the case for health equity.”
These cuts sparked worldwide outrage, with protestors targeting Tesla, vandalizing Tesla showrooms, and even buying the cars to destroy.
A self-proclaimed hacktivist group, Dark Storm, claimed responsibility for a DDoS attack on Musk’s platform X in protest of Musk’s work in the Trump administration.
