'Political Kryptonite': Expert Stunned as Elon Musk's Approval Nears 'minus-100'

Nobody seems to like the tech mogul slashed thousands of government jobs as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Elon Musk announced that he's leaving politics because he's “done enough,” but CNN's Harry Enten presented polling data that shows he's become “kryptonite” to the Republicans who took his cash and gave him vast influence.

The tech mogul slashed thousands of government jobs as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and appeared at White House events alongside president Donald Trump, but Enten told CNN News Central that he has become persona non grata in recent weeks.

“How unpopular is he?” Enten said. “How low can you go? Oh, my—OK, take a look here: Elon Musk's net favorability rating, look at this shift back in 2017, before he really started this politics thing. He was at plus-24 points. Look at where he is now: Whoa, he fell through the floor, minus-19 points. Among Democrats, the fall was even more dramatic. We're talking about going from plus-35 points on net favorability rating. That is quite a popular guy among Democrats, but get this—now down to minus-91 points. You can't really go lower than that. I guess you could go down to minus-100 points, but he became political kryptonite.”

“He was greatly disliked by the American public and greatly, greatly, greatly disliked by Democrats,” Enten added, “and obviously we saw that in Wisconsin when, of course, he spent all that money and then the liberal won that Supreme Court race.”

Musk's foray into politics destroyed the reputation of his Tesla electric car brand, as well.

“We're going to compare General Motors and Tesla,” Enten said. “General Motors, quite well-liked by the American people, plus-23 points on net favorability rating. But look at Tesla, minus-20 points. So this idea that Tesla could somehow separate itself from Elon Musk, the American people saw the exact same way, and, of course, Tesla is a business. They're in the business of selling cars. Awfully difficult to sell cars when you have a minus-20-point net favorability rating driven by Elon Musk's net favorability rating, right around the same mark, and it's not a big surprise that Tesla's sales had fallen in the past, at least in the first quarter, compared to where they were a year ago.

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“It turns out that Elon Musk's political kryptonite was also becoming kryptonite for selling cars,” Enten added.