The public’s impression of Tesla has sunk to its lowest levels ever

Tesla’s stock price isn’t the only thing that’s taken a dive recently.

Americans’ overall impression of the company is more negative than ever, according to data shared with Sherwood News by YouGov, a market research company that continually surveys people on how they perceive different brands. Indeed, carmaker’s reputation is at its lowest point since YouGov began tracking Tesla back in 2016 — not good news for a company already struggling with sales.

Americans’ opinions of Tesla started falling precipitously in the spring of 2022, around the time CEO Elon Musk initiated his purchase of Twitter. It hit negative territory — meaning more Americans had a negative impression of the company than a positive one — in the summer of that year, right before the acquisition went through and as his politics moved more vocally to the right.

Since then, Musk has aligned himself firmly with now President Donald Trump and has begun slashing federal budgets and head counts as the leader of an extragovernmental organization he named the Department of Government Efficiency. If the general public’s perception of Tesla is any indication, they don’t like what he’s been up to.

Of course, Americans’ opinions vary by political affiliation. Only among conservatives does Tesla have a positive net impression score, at about 7. For comparison, Americans’ average net impression of all carmakers is quite a bit higher, at 17.

Tesla’s net impression among moderates is -9 and a lowly -35 among liberals. Population-wide, Tesla is at -12.8, the lowest on record.

Trump’s recent Tesla purchase aside, Musk’s move into partisanship probably won’t do his car company many favors among consumers. As JPMorgan noted this week, Musk is mostly alienating Democrats — the very people most likely to buy EVs in the first place.