Voters Don't Think Trump's Increasingly Close Relationship With Elon Musk Is a Good Idea, Study Shows

No voters in a recent focus group believed that Elon Musk's increasingly close relationship with President-elect Donald Trump is a good idea.

The study, conducted by Engagious/Sago for Axios, surveyed 14 people living in battleground states on the matter. 12 of them were aware of Musk's role during the Trump campaign and following the election. Of those, five said they don't consider it to be a good idea, while seven did not have anything to say about it.

Musk not being the recipient of their vote, doubts about his agenda and benefits for his companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, were among the arguments given by members of the focus group.

Fewer respondents were aware of HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advising Trump. Of the eight who did, only one considered it a good idea.

Overall, the participants said they want Trump to focus on improving the economy and countering inflation when he takes office, rather than pursue retribution against his opponents. 11 in 14 respondents said this would not be justified, with eight believing the president-elect will effectively go after his adversaries.

Musk is, at the moment, set to play a significant role in the upcoming Donald Trump administration. He reportedly spent over $100 million to help Trump get elected, a massive sum, though a tiny fraction of his estimated $300 billion fortune.

Musk is also moving forward with the quest to slash government spending, an initiative that he seeks to conduct through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE, a wordplay with the crypto memecoin he has repeatedly propped up) along with Vivek Ramaswamy.

The group, created by President-elect Donald Trump, is not an official government department and will be providing "advice and guidance from outside." Regardless, DOGE is already taking resumes, according to its new account on X.

The account, which on Friday morning had over 1.4 million followers, did not mention any specific education background or prior job experience. It did say it wants "super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting."

The post added that Musk and Ramaswamy themselves will review the "top 1% of applicants." It did not indicate a salary range, but Musk said in a separate publication that the job pays "zero." "Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lots of enemies & compensation is zero. What a great deal!"