New Polling Shows Americans Increasingly Disgusted With Elon Musk

Unelected White House budget slasher and richest man in the world Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency has ripped through the federal government like a bull in a china shop.

The billionaire's hodge-podge team of underqualified 20-somethings — and at least one literal teenager — have already ripped up countless government contracts and fired thousands of federal employees — only to rehire those who were in charge of nuclear security and protecting the US from a looming bird flu crisis.

It's a spectacular level of incompetence that has Americans increasingly furious, as a new Washington Post-Ipsos poll shows.

A whopping 49 percent of respondents said they disapproved of the "job that Elon Musk is doing within the federal government," while only 34 approved. The degree of animosity shouldn't be understated either, with 41 percent "strongly" disapproving, while only eight percent "somewhat" disapproved.

When asked about Musk shutting down "federal government programs that he decides are unnecessary," 52 percent of all respondents disapproved, while only 26 percent approved.

And 63 percent of respondents said they were "concerned" about Musk's DOGE boys "getting access to some federal government databases that have Americans' personal Social Security, Medicare and tax information."

Unsurprisingly, the political divide is pretty stark, with 69 percent of respondents who identify as "conservative" approving of the job that Musk is doing, while only seven percent of "liberal" respondents said they approved.

Previous polling painted a damning picture of the entrepreneur's popularity, showing that his public support, even among Trump supporters, is dropping precipitously. A The Economist and YouGov poll  found earlier this month that a mere 25 percent of Trump voters said that Musk should have "a lot" of influence on the Trump administration — compared to 51 percent just days after the election.

Even independent voters are becoming concerned about Musk's reckless approach.

One independent white woman from Texas said in her response to the WaPo-Ipsos poll that "hiring Elon Musk to gut the government" was the worst thing the president had done. "Elon Musk may be a brilliant man," she said, "but he is not good working with people and does not know what he is doing quite frankly."

Conservatives are also concerned about Musk's activities, with 37 percent of Republican-leaning voters saying they were "somewhat" concerned about Musk getting access to their data.

A separate poll conducted by CNN, the results of which were released today, found that 54 percent of Americans said that "giving Elon Musk a prominent role in [Trump's] administration" was a "bad thing," while only 28 percent said it was a "good thing."

A Pew Research Center survey also corroborates that growing disillusionment, with just over half of US adults saying they have an "unfavorable view of Musk," 36 percent of whom have a "very unfavorable" opinion. Only 11 percent, tellingly, had a "very favorable" view of Musk.

The outspoken fury against the billionaire is also dragging down his business interests, with waves of protesters targeting Tesla dealerships around the world. The Washington Post also recently reported that there's growing sentiment among the EV maker's employees that Musk has become "disengaged" from his role as CEO. Some managers even expressed that the company would be better off without him.

Indeed, the carmaker is feeling the hurt in large part due to Musk's actions, with year-over-year car sales falling in 2024, despite the global EV market growing 25 percent. Sales are also plummeting across Europe, further highlighting the mercurial entrepreneur's extreme divisiveness.

A poll conducted over the President's Day weekend also showed that US voters are becoming less likely to either buy or lease a Tesla.

If there's one person who knows very well just how unpopular dismantling the US government could be, it's Musk himself. During an October town hall at his social media platform Twitter-formerly-X, a month before Trump won the election, he said that people would likely be "upset" following his attempts to purportedly "balance the budget immediately."

"I’ll probably need a lot of security, but it’s got to be done," he said at the time. "And if it’s not done, we’ll just go bankrupt."

Whether the billionaire will end up being right about that last bit, let alone get anywhere near balancing the budget, remains to be seen.

In fact, his reckless approach could prove disastrous for the economy. As University of California professor and former Department of Labor economist Jesse Rothstein argued in a recent post on Bluesky, a massive jolt in unemployment following sweeping layoffs could result in a "deep, deep recession."

"Add on to that enormous private market uncertainty — how could you hire in these conditions? — and this is going to be very, very bad," he added.

More on Musk's popularity: Public Support for Elon Musk Is Plummeting, Even Among Trump Voters