Elon’s Icarus Moment

New focus groups of swing state voters found reserves of goodwill for Trump—perceived as a man of action compared to “feckless” Democrats—but deep distrust toward Musk, widely viewed as “weird,” “radical,” and “selfish.” Mostly, however, they just wanted to talk about the astounding price of eggs.

The latest survey from our partners at Echelon Insights found that a majority of likely voters (51 percent) disapproved of Musk’s current role in the federal government. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Peter Hamby

February 26, 2025

Ever since Elon Musk launched his slash-and-burn effort to shrink the federal government under the auspices of DOGE and with the blessing of Donald Trump, polls have demonstrated that voters are queasy about the idea. The latest survey from our partners at Echelon Insights found that a majority of likely voters (51 percent) disapproved of Musk’s current role in the federal government. And 57 percent said Musk was wrong to dismantle government programs “when he wasn’t elected and has no expertise in government.”