Elon Musk Spent many years building a cachet as a titanium and tech visionary businessman, who kicked critics and doubted to be the richest person on the planet.
But as the muscle gained power in Washington in recent months, his fame has stopped, according to a poll fromThe Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Only 33% of us adultChain-Saw-wielding,Late-night-post,The wearing a campaignPublic face of the presidentDonald Trump'sEfforts to overthrow and overhaul the federal government. That part dropped from 41% in December.
“It's a shame that he crashed and burned his reputation,” said Ernest Pereira, 27, a Democrat working as a North Carolina lab technician. “He bought his own hype.”
The poll found that about two-thirds of adults believe that Musk has had a great influence on the federal government in recent months-though that influence may be completed. The billionaire entrepreneurs are expected to leave his job in administration in the coming weeks.
Muscle is noticeably less popular than the general effort thatPare back the government workforcedescribed by Trump as red and corrupt. About half of our adults believe that the President of the Republican is far from reducing the size of the federal worker, while almost 3 out of 10 think he is on the target and 14% wants to go.
Retiree Susan Wolf, 75, of Pennsylvania, believes the federal government is huge but Musk “has made a mess of everything.”
“I don't trust him,” he said. “I don't think he knows what he's doing.”
Wolf, who was not registered at a political party, said the success of the Musk private sector was not translated into Washington.
“He thinks you're running a government like you're running a business. And you don't do that,” he said. “One is for the benefit of the people, and the other is for the benefit of the corporation.”
Most of the collapse is accomplished by the so -calledThe department of governmental efficiencyor Doge, which was the Musk brain during the campaign last year. Thousands of federal employees were —fired or pushed to stop, contracts were canceled and the entire agency was determined.
Musk succeeded in giving a dose of shock therapy to the federal government, but he did not fall for other purposes. After talking about cutting a $ 1 trillion expenditure, he set a lower target of $ 150 billion. Even reaching that amount can prove challenging, and the Doge has regularly overstated its development.
She expects to start offering more time with Tesla, her electric automaker who hasWe are suffering from plummetingAs he works for Trump. Musk told investors in a recent conference call “Now that the main task of establishing the government department's efficiency is over,” he hopes to spend only “one day or two a week on government matters.”
Musk, in his work for the administration, continued a political evolution to the right. Although the businessman born in South Africa is not easy to categorize ideologically, he is champagting the resistance to climate change and often supporting democratic candidates.
Now he criticizes the “Woke Mind Virus” and warns the collapse of Western civilization from the threats of illegal transfer and excessive expenditure of the government.
Musk's increasingly conservative politics can be seen in the polls. Only 2 out of 10 independent and about 1 out of 10 Democrats were viewed by Musk well, compared to about 7 out of 10 Republicans.
In addition, while about 7 out of 10 independent and about 9 out of 10 Democrats believe Musk has an excessive influence, nearly 4 out of 10 Republicans have felt that way.
Mark Collins, 67, a warehouse manager from Michigan who has led to the Republican in recent years, Musk said “running a good, tight ship” to his companies, “and the government really needs strictness.”
“He is cleaning all the trash can,” he said. “I love what he does.”
Republicans are more likely than Democrats who are concerned about the recent reduction in federal government agencies, services or grants. Only 11% said they were “excessive” or “very” concerned that they or someone they knew would be affected, while about two-thirds of Democrats and 44% of the independent had those fears.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
