A new poll shows that 67% of Americans would not consider buying or leasing a Tesla vehicle – with most of them citing Elon Musk as the reason why.
YouGov and Yahoo News have released a new survey of 1,677 US adults between March 20 and 24th.
The survey revolved around Tesla and Elon Musk.
The most interesting, and actionable, question was: Would you consider owning or leasing a Tesla in the future?
The answers were impressive:
- Yes: 18%
- No: 67%
- Not Sure: 13%
- Not asked – currently own or lease a Tesla: 2%
Based on the survey, more than two-thirds of Americans would not even consider buying a Tesla.
Most people who would not consider buying or leasing a Tesla said that Musk was part of the reason or the whole reason for them not considering a Tesla:
- He is the whole reason: 20%
- Part of the reason: 17%
- Total whole/part of reason: 37%
- Not part of the reason: 27%
- Not sure: 3%
- Not asked (own/lease or open to it): 33% (2% + 31%)
The survey is also tracking the general opinion of Americans on Musk and confirmed that it has turned negative compared to last year:
- Very favorable: 21%
- Somewhat favorable: 18%
- Favorable (total): 39%
- Somewhat unfavorable: 10%
- Very unfavorable: 45%
- Unfavorable (total): 55%
- Don’t know: 6%
Americans’ views on Tesla are tracking very closely to their opinions on Musk, though with more undecided:
- Very favorable: 13%
- Somewhat favorable: 24%
- Favorable (total): 37%
- Somewhat unfavorable: 13%
- Very unfavorable: 36%
- Unfavorable (total): 49%
- Don’t know: 14%
Before people blame political bias for those results, the survey also looked into political leanings and associations, and most respondents lean moderate to conservative:
Generally speaking, do you think of yourself as a …?
- Democrat – 30%
- Republican – 32%
- Independent – 27%
- Other – 2%
- Not sure – 8%
In general, how would you describe your own political viewpoint?
- Very liberal – 10%
- Liberal – 16%
- Moderate – 33%
- Conservative – 20%
- Very conservative – 9%
- Not sure – 12%
Here’s the survey in full:
Electrek’s Take
The results from this survey clearly point toward Tesla having an Elon Musk problem.
If he were removed from the equation, Tesla would have much better chances in the US market.
Of course, it wouldn’t be easy from there. Musk did a lot of damage at the brand level and Tesla will need to rebuild its brand without him, but he also did quite a bit of damage at the managerial level.
It is quite ridiculous that Tesla launched a single new vehicle in five years, the Cybertruck, and it’s a flop. Tesla also lost a lot of talent in the last 2 years – in part because of Musk.
At least, Tesla wouldn’t have a large part of the population in its home market not even considering buying its products because of its CEO.
That would be a good start to rebuilding Tesla, even though I’m fully aware that many Tesla fans and shareholders don’t believe It needs rebuilding.
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