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Elon Musk has become so unpopular that he’s not just negatively impacting the sales of Tesla, but electric vehicles at large. Musk’s images has apparently become so synonymous with EVs that it’s turning consumers away from them.
According to a new study that was recently published by Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, the number of liberal voters who have expressed interest in owning an electric vehicle has plummeted into negative figures in tandem with Musk’s increased involvement in American politics.
The study shows that conservatives, in general, continue to widely reject EVs, making sales of the product down across the political spectrum.
Elon Musk is so unpopular that it’s hurting the sales of ALL electric vehicles
“The suspicion is that Elon Musk became so synonymous with EVs in the U.S. that perceptions of him affected the entire class of vehicles,” the psychologist who conducted the study, Alexandra Flores, told Nature.
“We thought that liberals would be pretty stable because EVs are so historically associated with the green movement and that Musk’s rightward turn would bring conservatives on board. But the opposite happened—over time conservatives remained relatively steady in their lack of interest in EVs and Tesla, while liberals’ attitudes really dropped. They are now equally unlikely to buy an EV as they are a Tesla.”
Musk’s unpopularity led to his ousting from the Trump administration, as well, following less than six months on the job. Following his psuedo-break-up from Trump, Musk took to Twitter to declare that the reason the Epstein Files have not been made public because Trump is in them.
A few months later, Musk was proven to be right, as reports from The Wall Street Journal indicate that Trump — who now oscillates between saying the files don’t exist, are a Democratic hoax, or aren’t worth caring about — was made aware his name appears in the files multiple times back in May.