Elon Musk has become significantly less popular since he joined President Donald Trump’s administration, according to polls, as he exits his government role after a tenure marked by some fumbled attempts to gut government agencies.
Elon Musk listens as reporters ask President Donald Trump and South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa questions in the Oval Office at the White House on May 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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Key Takeaways
- The amount of people who like Musk hasn’t changed much since he endorsed Trump on July 13, the day he was shot in Pennsylvania, but the number of people who view him unfavorably has increased significantly, according to Nate Silver’s Silver Bulletin.
- Musk’s favorability rating has gone from 41% in mid-July to 39% as of Thursday, a day after he announced he was formally leaving his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency, according to the polling average.
- His unfavorability rating has increased 14 points, from 40% to 54%.
- One of the most recent reputable polls on Musk, conducted May 23-25 by Morning Consult, found 40% have a very or somewhat favorable opinion and 52% have a very or somewhat unfavorable opinion.
- A CNN poll conducted in March, at the height of Musk’s work at DOGE, found the majority of respondents believed Musk has neither the experience nor judgement to carry out Trump’s changes to the federal government and found they were worried the cuts would go too far, though results were largely split along party lines.
News Peg
Musk announced Wednesday in a post on X he was formally exiting his role at DOGE, predicting “the DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.” Musk made the announcement less than a month after he said he would significantly scale back political spending and just days after he publicly criticized Trump’s signature policy legislation for adding to the federal deficit.
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Musk is worth $430.9 billion.
What We Don’t Know
It’s unclear who will lead the Department of Government Efficiency in Musk’s absence. While Musk was the de facto head of department, the Trump administration said that former health care executive, Amy Gleason, was technically the acting administrator of DOGE. Gleason did not have a public-facing role and the extent of her involvement in DOGE’s activities is unclear, however.
Key Background
Musk took a heavy-handed approach to cutting government spending during his time in the Trump administration, gutting some agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, entirely, and laying off tens of thousands of employees across the federal government.
He admittedly fell far short of his goal to make $1 trillion in cuts, however, and many of the terminations were reversed by the courts or acknowledgements that they were made in error. Musk became a fixture at Trump’s side after he endorsed him in July and subsequently donated $250 million to Trump’s campaign, joining him on international trips and weekends at Mar-a-Lago and sometimes spending the night at the White House. Trump’s affinity for Musk did not extend to the broader Republican party, however, as many GOP lawmakers publicly expressed doubts about the cuts Musk made.
This article was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
