An overwhelming majority of Americans aren’t big fans of the world’s richest man, raising questions about whether Elon Musk’s money could do more harm than good for Republicans this midterm cycle.
After news that the tech mogul has spent $276 million to help the GOP salvage its election-day prospects, CNN’s senior data analyst Harry Enten laid out numbers suggesting Musk’s support might be a liability, even among independents.
“It turns out you can’t buy love, Johnny B; money can’t buy you love, because just take a look at these numbers for Elon Musk,” Enten said before revealing how Democrats’ opinion of the SpaceX CEO has taken a 20-point plunge since the fall of 2024.
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“If I’m a Democratic candidate, I am running against Elon Musk,” the statistics-savvy politico said. “I am running against the elites because look at this.”
Making matters worse, Musk’s margins with the midterm-critical independent voter bloc were even more dismal, showing the billionaire’s net favorability rating now clocking in at -27 compared to -5 two years ago.
Enten said the data was a major issue for Republicans, who are already seeing independents turn their backs on the party and its leader, President Donald Trump.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk photographed after being awarded the National Medal of Science in Washington D.C. on Oct. 8. Win McNamee via Getty Images
“They have, simply put, alienated the center of the electorate to a historic degree,” he claimed.
Enten also pointed out that Musk’s massive wealth could make it hard for Republicans to paint themselves as defenders of the working class, citing polls showing that non-college-educated voters’ opinion on which party was more elitist had shifted 15 points from Democrats to the GOP since fall 2022.
“This just hammers away at this message that we have been seeing in the polling over and over and over again,” Enten said. “You got these billionaires and potentially trillionaire spending, and they are therefore now seeing the Republican Party as the party of elites.”
