FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — THE ELON EFFECT: You’ve seen the anti-Elon Musk bumper stickers. You’ve read about the anti-Tesla vandalism. Today, new polling makes it clear: Public opinion on the world’s most valuable car firm now splits dramatically down partisan lines. Buying a Tesla has become a political act.
Sixty-one percent of Democrats now have a negative view of Tesla, a survey by the Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report found, while only 17 percent view Tesla in a positive light. By contrast, just over half of Republicans (51 percent) have a positive view of Tesla, compared with 17 percent who view the company negatively. There’s little doubt about what — or rather, who — is driving this extraordinary split.
To be clear: Views of car manufacturers do not normally split so completely down partisan lines. In the same survey, only 4 percent of Democrats and 7 percent of Republicans had a negative view of Honda. Because — who really hates Honda, right? It’s just … Honda. But Tesla is not like that. Not any more.
Despite popping up with Trump in Saudi Arabia yesterday, Elon Musk has been gently backing away from the political scene. Strikingly, his X feed is now largely free of political content. But the $460 billion question is — can the brand recover once he’s left the White House? And what are the implications for the EV market if it does not, with Chinese giant BYD gaining ground around the world? Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
FURTHER READING: The FT’s Joe Miller and Chris Cook just published a decent deep dive on Musk’s efforts to cut government spending with DOGE. For all the noise (and the $2 trillion promises), actual taxpayer savings have been tiny, they report. (Maybe this governing thing is harder than it looks.)
In today’s Playbook:
— Donald Trump is headed to Qatar aboard old Air Force One for the second leg of his Mideast tour.
— Dems are in meltdown over that Joe Biden book.
— Congress stayed up all night to get the one “big, beautiful bill” done. But we’re not there yet.
