Republicans change tune on Elon Musk, but not Tesla

Elon Musk, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, is winning over Republicans — but the new fondness GOP voters have for the Telsa CEO does not appear to extend to Musk’s company or the rest of the electric vehicle (EV) industry.

The share of Republicans who have a favorable opinion of Musk has doubled from 35 percent to 70 percent between November 2023 and November 2024, according to a survey conducted by the bipartisan lobbying group EV Politics. Unfavorable views among Republicans dropped from 19 percent to 10 percent in the same time period.

Still, GOP voters continue to have a generally negative views of EVs, with 48 percent holding an unfavorable opinion and only 15 percent with a favorable one. The report found 38 percent of Republicans have a mixed view on EVs.

“Could Elon Musk move that troublesome GOP needle? With his hostility to EV consumer subsidies, and the unwelcome market competition for Tesla that it helps create, the early answer is probably not,” the report asked. “Elon seems focused on other things now and helping break down GOP hostility to EVs appears to be low on his priority list.”

On the campaign trail, Trump had vowed to swiftly roll back former President Joe Biden’s EV policies, and the president is wasting no time. Immediately after taking office, Trump declared a “national energy emergency” and ordered the elimination of the so-called “electric vehicle mandate,” Trump’s phrase for a federal rule that required auto manufacturers to cut greenhouse gas emissions by half beginning in 2027.

On Thursday, the Trump administration also ordered an immediate halt of the $5 billion program aimed at building more EV charging stations on highways. The president is also said to be eyeing other policies that incentivize EVs and have been a boon for companies like Tesla, such as consumer tax credits.

Although Republicans remain largely opposed to electric cars, there are signs that Musk’s position as an industry heavyweight — the man who brought EVs to the masses — could have spillover effects that would help close the partisan divide on EVs.

More than 80 percent of Republicans think Musk is a good ambassador for the industry and 56 percent say they are open to buying an EV, although the majority would need prices to be lower and more problems with those cars to be worked out. The share of Americans who have positive views of Musk and say they are looking to buy an EV soon has climbed from 24 percent to 43 percent between November 2023 and November 2024.

The automakers also appear to be taking a more conciliatory tone in their attempts to market EVs toward these voters, as reflected by one of the few car ads that ran during Sunday’s Super Bowl. In a jumbo two-minute spot purchased at the last minute, Jeep tapped Harrison Ford to helm a campaign that asked viewers to “Choose what makes you happy,” interspersed with images of both Jeep’s electric and combustion-engine models and paeans to American ideals of freedom and independence.

“In America, people want, I think, to have a choice,” Olivier Francois, global chief marketing officer of Jeep parent Stellantis told Variety about the ad. “People want to be offered options.”

Still, Mike Murphy, a founder of EV Politics and veteran Republican strategist, noted that Democrats were still buying EVs at rate five times that of Republicans as of last year. The latest poll shows that Democrats continue to have favorable views of EVs, with 78 percent expressing an openness to going electric and only 13 percent having unfavorable views of electric-car brands like Tesla.

“No bigger obstacle exists to mass EV adoption than the ‘Red Wall,'” Murphy, who was a top campaign strategist for the late Senator John McCain, said in the report. “The key to wider EV adoption is selling more EVs to Republicans. Elon has the standing and the tools to help with this mission, but with Donald Trump still a fierce EV critic, we think it is unlikely.”

“Still, Republicans are creeping toward greater EV acceptance and willing or not, Elon’s journey to MAGA may have helped that,” he said.