Trump Voters in Focus Group Slam Elon Musk’s Growing Influence: ‘I Didn’t Vote for Him’
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Voters in a focus group who have supported President-elect Donald Trump universally said the incoming president’s close relationship with Elon Musk is not a good thing.
Axios teamed up with Engagious/Sago for a focus group of 14 swing state voters who all voted for Trump in 2016 and some of whom swung back his way for the 2024 election. The report, published on Friday, revealed none of the voters were willing to call Musk’s relationship to Trump a positive.
Musk endorsed Trump and was a major supporter of his campaign. Trump has announced that Musk will help lead what he’s calling the Department of Government Efficiency, which is meant to look at cutting back on government waste.
Of the 14 swing state voters polled — through two online panels — 12 of them were familiar with Musk being an advisor to Trump. Five called it a bad thing while seven did not know how to respond, but none would describe the relationship as good.
All 14 voters supported Trump in 2016 and then swung to President Joe Biden in 2020. In 2024, five swung back to Trump, another five backed Vice President Kamala Harris, and another four voted for a third party.
“I think it’ll favor his Tesla company, and he’ll get the majority of the breaks, and just by throwing a couple hundred million on [Trump’s] campaign, they’re going to look the other way,” George L. out of Phoenix, Arizona said.
Pierre D. out of Las Vegas, Nevada said Musk is “very good at business,” but not someone who earned a single vote.
“He’s very good obviously at business, but I didn’t elect — I didn’t vote for him,” the voter said, questioning what Musk’s “agenda” will be.
“There’s nothing, in my opinion, in Elon Musk’s history that shows that he’s got the best interest of the country or its citizens in mind,” Blaire P. out of Oxford, Michigan added.
According to Axios, the five who called the Musk/Trump relationship bad are a mix of 2024 Trump voters, Harris voters, and third party voters.
The group also gave their opinions on another controversial advisor to Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. The once independent presidential candidate has been tapped by Trump to serve as hit health and human services secretary, stirring up backlash due to Kennedy’s longtime criticism of various vaccines.
Only one out of the 14 voters described Kennedy’s association to Trump as a good thing, while four called it a bad thing. That one voter who described it as good predicted Kennedy “can’t do any worse than anybody else has ever done.”
