It looks like laying off thousands of workers and slashing funding for several programs hasn’t helped Elon Musk curry favor with the public.
CNN’s senior data reporter Harry Enten noted Thursday that the DOGE chief’s popularity has tanked in just three months.
“The more people get to know about Musk and the job he’s doing, the less they like it,” Enten told Erin Burnett OutFront. “They want Musk ‘Adios, amigo.‘”
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A Fox News poll conducted mid-March showed that 58 percent disapproved of the work Musk is doing at the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, while only 40 percent approved.
Just last December, Musk’s favorability in a Fox News poll was at 50 percent, with only 47 percent of voters approving of the billionaire serving as a close adviser to President Donald Trump.
“He is the least popular out of any of the major figures in the Trump White House,” Enten said, highlighting that the public held more favorable views of officials like Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio than Musk.
“He is a drag on Donald Trump. And the question is, how many more [Anthony] Scaramuccis can he last there?” the CNN data guru said, referencing a former White House communications director who had a high-profile falling-out with Trump.
Other polls reflect the public’s dissatisfaction with Musk.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from March 31 to April 2, 57 percent of respondents said they held unfavorable views of Musk, and only 39 percent approved.
Another March survey by the Marquette Law School had Musk’s favorability at 38 percent, with 60 percent of respondents disapproving.
Politico earlier reported Trump had informed his Cabinet that Musk would soon exit the White House amid concerns that the world’s richest man was becoming a political liability.
The Daily Beast also confirmed that Musk had told his friends that he would soon depart from the Trump administration.
It’s a big shift from the White House’s earlier comments that Musk was “here to stay,” despite the time limit on his tenure as DOGE chief. Since Musk is designated as a special government employee, he can only work 130 days a year.
The billionaire was noticeably absent from Trump’s big “Liberation Day” announcement of new tariffs on Wednesday, despite most of the president’s closest advisers being present.
The event was held just a day after Musk fell short of delivering a win for Trump in the high-stakes Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
