CNN’s Harry Enten Argues Elon Musk’s Third Party Appears ‘Dead On Arrival’
CNN data guru Harry Enten joined anchor Sara Sidner on Friday to discuss the latest polling surrounding Elon Musk and his new third party.
“Yeah, I would say that I have rarely seen someone who entered the political scene, and it has been so unkind to them. What are we talking about here? All I can say is, geez Louise, you know, the first time we ever saw Elon Musk ever polled was all the way back in June of 2016. He was the most popular person polled by Bloomberg back in June 2016 with a plus 29 percentage point net favorable rating,” began Enten, adding:
Down we go as we go to this side of the screen, July of 2025, minus 37 points on the net favorable scale according to our latest CNN poll. Get this, that is a 66-point drop. He is now the least popular person that we polled. So the bottom line is, as I said at the top, geez Louise, you rarely see 66-point drops, but the political scene has been quite unkind to the Rocket Man.
“Well, Republicans were cheering him on at first. And what are you seeing, though, now? How has that shifted and changed?” Sidner followed up.
“You know, I think the last time we spoke about this, we spoke of the fact that when you mess with Donald Trump, you go in the grinder, to quote the great movie Good Burger,” Enten replied, adding:
And Elon Musk’s net favorable rating with the GOP. In March of 2025, look at that, plus 61 points, two thumbs up. We come to this side July of 2025 after announcing that he is going to try and form a third party. Two thumbs down, oh my goodness, a drop of 55 points in the course of just four months. I mean, you don’t want to mess with Donald Trump. And then finally, Ms. Sidner, I will note, you know, there’s all this talk of Elon Musk in a third party.
Look, I – He’s talking about it. He’s putting it out there. He’s putting it out. I dare say it’s close, pretty much close to dead on arrival. Look at this favorite third party started by Elon Musk. Look at that, just 25% favorable, 74%, three quarters of Americans opposed. And remember, Ross Perot started a third party back in 1992 and ’93, and 50% favored it, far more than Elon Musk. And of course, that third party — not successful. This one, as I said, pretty much close to dead on arrival.
Earlier in the week, Echelon Insights found Musk’s party with 5% of the vote, which was enough to be a spoiler for Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, which had the GOP up 1 point without Musk’s party in the mix, but down 4 points with it competing.
Watch the clip above via CNN.
