RUTHFULLY YOURS

For some, it’s hard to imagine an unpaid civil servant doing an important job for the government could be treated worse than Elon Musk. The government cost-cutting head of DOGE has been rewarded for his service by a boycott of Tesla and its stock, by death threats, insults, and violent attacks on Tesla dealers and owners. And now, according to the latest I&I/TIPP Poll, a surprisingly large share of the population backs this behavior.

The national online I&I/TIPP poll was taken by 1,452 adults from March 26 to March 28. It has a margin of error of +/-2.6 percentage points. The poll was intended to look at the anti-Musk phenomenon, and how average people view anti-Musk protesters.

Respondents were asked three questions, the first being: “Do you support or oppose the Tesla Takedown movement’s call to protest Elon Musk by selling Tesla vehicles and stock?”

A clear plurality of 43% say they either support it “strongly” (27%) or “somewhat” (16%), while a smaller 32% oppose it either “strongly” (23%) or “somewhat” (9%). Another 14% said they were “not familiar with the movement,” while 11% described themselves as “not sure.”

Not surprisingly, Democrats back the selling of Tesla vehicles and stock by 53% “support” to 26% “oppose,” while independents give the boycott 40% support to 29% opposition.

But perhaps most surprising are Republicans, who support the call to protest Musk by 40% but oppose it by an equal 40%.

Indeed, in none of the 36 demographic groups that are followed each month by the I&I/TIPP Poll is there a plurality or majority that opposes the Musk-Tesla boycott and stock sales.

The second question asked was a bit more pointed: “Do you believe acts of vandalism against Tesla properties should be prosecuted as domestic terrorism?”

This time, a plurality of 46% answered yes, while a slightly lesser 39% said no. Of the remainder, 15% said “not sure.”

On this question, political affiliation had a much bigger impact on how participants responded.

Among Democrats, for instance, just 32% said the attacks should be prosecuted as domestic terrorism, compared to 54% who said no. And independents were only slightly different, with 36% saying “yes,” but 48% saying “no.”

Republicans? They supported prosecuting the attacks as domestic terror by 68% yes, 19% no.

The “domestic terrorism” question also shows intriguing splits among other demographic groups: Males (53% yes, 37% no) and females (39% yes, 42% no); whites (50% yes, 36% no) and minorities and blacks/Hispanics (38% yes, 46% no); and investors (61% yes, 33% no) vs. non-investors (40% yes, 43% no).

The final question posed was: “Should individuals who vandalize Tesla properties during protests be held financially responsible for the damages they cause?”

This was the biggest winner by far, with overall 71% answering yes, 16% answering no, and 12% not sure. No demographic responded with less than 56% “yes,” and none was more than 31% “no.”

But there were still differences to be seen. Democrats (64% yes, 23% no) and independents (69% yes, 17% no) were a good deal less likely than Republicans (83% yes, 10% no) to support making protesters financially responsible for their damages.

So nearly one in four Democrats and one in six independents believe protestors shouldn’t be held responsible for their damage. So do one in 10 Republicans.

It’s safe to say that there is overwhelming support for financial restitution for those whose Teslas or other property are damaged due to protests.

But there’s still a surprising number of people who believe that intentionally destroying someone else’s property during a “protest” should require no financial responsibility by those who commit the crimes.

It’s especially strange also to know that resentment of Elon Musk is so great among certain groups, particularly given that in a recent I&I/TIPP Poll 52% of respondents felt that 25% or more of all federal spending was wasted.

These data point to how politically divided the U.S. is, especially when it comes to violent political behavior. Put simply, Democrats and independents are far more tolerant and even supportive of attacks on Musk and his various highly successful companies, even to the point of backing violent political protests.

Given the raw political opprobrium directed at Musk, it’s no great shock that he has announced plans to step away from his day-to-day management of DOGE to return to the companies he created, including electric-car maker Tesla and space-launch giant, SpaceX.

It’s interesting to note that Musk signed up originally for a 130-day commitment to head DOGE, roughly half a year. So it should be no surprise he’s now announcing he’ll do just that.

But what’s surprising is the amount of anger and even rage Musk has inspired as he’s sought to shut down dysfunctional programs and slash hundreds of billions of dollars in waste.

By its own estimates, DOGE (from its full name, the Department Of Government Efficiency) has cut $160 billion in waste, or roughly $993.79 per taxpayer. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

Moreover, the long-term effects of such cuts will be enormous: Musk estimates that DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts will have slashed $1 trillion from the U.S. deficit, a massive amount of waste.

“This is a revolution,” the 53-year-old billionaire said. “And I think it might be the biggest revolution in government since the original revolution. At the end of the day, America’s going to be in much better shape. It’s going to be a fantastic future.”

He has removed hundreds of thousands of credit cards from government use, found hundreds of millions of dollars in unemployment and Social Security fraud, and uncovered what might be the biggest fraud of all: Hundreds of billions of tax dollars spent on politically oriented “non-governmental organizations,” or NGOs, many if not most left-leaning.

Yet, despite all this “smashing success,” as libertarian leaning Reason magazine put it, Musk’s stock with the public at large seems to have declined.

As a recent AP/NORC Poll found, “Just 33% of U.S. adults have a favorable view of Musk, the chain-saw-wielding, late-night-posting, campaign-hat-wearing public face of President Donald Trump’s efforts to downsize and overhaul the federal government. That share is down from 41% in December.”

It may be that the pain or surprise of government cutbacks is greatest when they’re first made, and only appreciated later when both spending and deficits (2024 federal red ink: $1.8 trillion) begin to shrink. If so, Musk may have to wait a few years before the job he did is fully appreciated.

I&I/TIPP publishes timely, unique, and informative data each month on topics of public interest. TIPP’s reputation for polling excellence comes from being the most accurate pollster for the past six presidential elections.