Elon Musk just hit a new low — now crowned America's most unpopular public figure

Elon Musk is now officially the most disliked public figure in the U.S., according to a new Gallup poll conducted between July 7–21, 2025. Out of 14 public figures surveyed, Musk had the worst score: 61% of people said they had an unfavorable opinion of him, Only 33% had a favorable opinion and 6% had no opinion.

Musk’s popularity has fallen sharply since earlier this year— In January 2025, his net favorability rating was -4. As of July, it has dropped to -28. He’s now less popular than Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who also had low scores, as per the report by DNYUZ.

Elon Musk’s ties with Trump backfired badly

Musk’s fall is linked to his heavy involvement in U.S. politics, especially his support for Donald Trump. He reportedly spent nearly $300 million helping Trump’s 2024 campaign. Musk became a close ally of Trump, earning the nickname “first buddy”, and was put in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, a Trump team tasked with budget cuts.


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In January 2025, Musk was made a “special government employee”, giving him official status in the Trump administration. But their relationship quickly turned sour. Musk was removed from his government role, with little achieved, and tensions grew between him and Trump, as stated in the report by DNYUZ.

Musk later publicly criticized Trump, and even claimed Trump is named in Jeffrey Epstein’s files, causing a huge backlash from Trump supporters. This drama made Musk deeply unpopular with both Democrats and Republicans, Democrats gave him a -86 net favorability rating, one of the worst scores in Gallup’s history. Republicans also cooled on him after he attacked Trump.

Musk scores worse than almost every major U.S. or world leader

The Gallup poll also showed that everyone in Trump’s circle had negative ratings, but Musk’s was the worst. RFK Jr. had the best score of the group with -5. President Biden and VP JD Vance both had -11, tied with each other. Donald Trump himself scored -16, same as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as mentioned in the report by DNYUZ.

Surprisingly, Democratic figures scored better, AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) had -4, Bernie Sanders had a positive score of +11, and their anti-billionaire messaging may have helped. Even foreign leaders beat Musk in popularity, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky got +18 and Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, got +46, the highest favorability rating.

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At the same time, Musk’s companies are also struggling, Tesla reported a 16% drop in net income in Q2 2025 and revenue fell by 12%, a major blow for the EV giant, according to the reports.

A study by Williams College found that Musk’s image has turned people off electric cars entirely, not just Teslas—his personal reputation is hurting the entire EV industry. The original article reporting all these details was published by The Daily Beast, titled, “Elon Musk Is Officially the Most Unpopular Public Figure in America”, as per the DNYUZ report.

FAQs

Q1. Why is Elon Musk now the most unpopular public figure in America?
Elon Musk’s support for Trump, political drama, and Tesla's falling profits hurt his image, as shown in a 2025 Gallup poll.

Q2. What was Elon Musk’s favorability rating in the latest Gallup poll?
In July 2025, Elon Musk had a net favorability rating of -28, with 61% of Americans disliking him.