Months after being tapped by President Donald Trump to guide the Division of Authorities Effectivity assault on the federal authorities, billionaire Elon Musk has been rated by the general public as one of many least-liked figures by People.
On Tuesday, Gallup launched the outcomes of a ballot taken July 7-21, and of the 14 world “newsmakers” individuals had been requested about, Musk had an abysmal web favorable score of -28. Of these surveyed, solely 33% had a positive opinion of the important thing Republican backer, whereas 61% seen him unfavorably.
Musk was so unpopular that his unfavorable score outweighs Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (each at -16). Musk even performs worse than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (-23), who has been extensively condemned for his actions in opposition to Hamas.
The best-rated determine within the ballot is Pope Leo XIV (+46) adopted by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (+18) and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (+11).
His time main DOGE matches the precipitous drop in help for Musk. When the identical ballot was taken originally of the Trump administration in January, Musk had a web favorable score of -4, that means he has dropped 24 factors within the ensuing months. Rubio had an analogous fall whereas Trump fell 14 factors.
The results of Musk’s DOGE tenure in all probability explains why he’s so disliked.
A current report from Senate Democrats revealed that insurance policies put in place by DOGE have price taxpayers $21.7 billion, together with over $14.8 billion spent to pay federal employees to not work.
DOGE put in a gaggle of Musk acolytes throughout federal companies, giving them entry to delicate and beforehand protected non-public knowledge. Amongst Musk’s flunkies had been open racists and bigots given free reign to disrupt longtime federal methods and procedures.
DOGE’s actions have been incessantly challenged for overstepping constitutional authority and courts have dominated that the group has been in violation of the U.S. Structure. Fueling the backlash is the truth that whereas at the least Trump was elected to his place, Musk was not, and in contrast to Cupboard secretaries and different appointees, he was not vetted by Congress. Musk was given his energy as a payback for bankrolling Trump and different Republicans.
Trump finally soured on Musk, who generated a torrent of detrimental headlines, together with protests at Tesla dealerships that precipitated a drop within the carmaker’s gross sales. Musk and Trump had an acrimonious public breakup that your entire world was successfully pressured to cringe and watch. Trump even stated he would look into deporting Musk.
Musk has left DOGE however regardless of the mess the board of administrators at Tesla—which he controls—simply voted to provide him $26 billion in shares. He’s additionally nonetheless bankrolling Republican marketing campaign efforts and regardless of his disagreements with Trump, he’s nonetheless within the GOP’s tent.
