Elon Musk’s increasingly right-wing political stances on Twitter have alienated many of Tesla’s traditionally left-leaning customers.
New polling shows the proportion of Democrats buying Teslas dropped over 60% in late 2023 when Musk faced backlash for anti-Semitic comments.
While Republican and independent Tesla buyers rose slightly, the overall percentage of new Democratic buyers bottomed out at 15%, compared to 40% previously.
This aligns with a 15% drop in new Tesla registrations in California during the same period in 2023 versus a 43% increase the prior year.
Musk’s toxic rhetoric appears to be damaging the Tesla brand, though the company regained some Democratic customers by early 2024 as Musk remained quiet in the press.
“This lack of negative press and antics, combined with EV [shoppers] today… shopping various EVs and they find that the Model 3 and Y are still, in their opinion, the best decision based on value,” Strategic Vision president Alexander Edwards said.
Musk’s bad publicity coupled with recent sales and product issues have clearly taken a toll on Tesla’s once dominant market position.
