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Elon Musk’s endorsement of former President Donald Trump isn’t sitting well with Tesla’s (TSLA) potential customers.
New data from analytics firm CivicScience shows that Tesla’s popularity among Democrats has fallen to 16% as of July 16, down from 39% in January. Among Republicans, the data shows that popularity has fallen to 23% from 36% over the same time period.
CivicScience CEO John Dick told Yahoo Finance that his “data has consistently shown that Democrats, more than Republicans, associate Elon Musk and his actions with the brand.”
And that could be problematic for the brand’s business. Tesla short seller Mark Spiegel told Yahoo Finance that a potential boycott by Democrats would be “terrible” for the electric vehicle maker.
“It has completely alienated the majority of its buyer base… It will kill the business,” Spiegel warned. “I can’t imagine a single Democrat, or, say, a handful of them, willing to buy a Tesla at this point.”
Ross Gerber, a longtime investor in Tesla and investment firm Gerber Kawasaki, told Yahoo Finance that he is considering selling his vehicle because Musk’s endorsement “doesn’t align with my values.”
“This final stance by Elon has put me in a really difficult moral position,” Gerber said. “I’m driving a Cybertruck and now it’s like a MAGA truck.”
According to research firm Strategic Vision, the number of Tesla owners who identify as Democrats has fallen to 26% from 39% last year. The data shows a sharp decline in November, when Musk made anti-Semitic comments about X, and has steadily declined since.
And it’s not just Democratic resistance that potentially spells trouble for Tesla. Professionals tell Yahoo Finance that threats from former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, to eliminate government subsidies will also be a blow to the electric-vehicle leader.
“If the $7,500 credit goes away, Tesla will have to raise prices. And if it has to raise prices, it will sell fewer cars,” Spiegel added.
Guggenheim’s Ron Jewsikow told Yahoo Finance that the current $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles is a “key affordability factor” for the company and that repealing it would be “bad.”
The uncertainty surrounding electric vehicle tax credits is nothing new to Tesla or traditional automakers. Gabelli Asset Management portfolio manager Brian Sponheimer told Yahoo Finance that the topic has been “political volleyball for quite some time,” urging caution and a “wait-and-see approach” from investors.
Trump, however, did not soften his stance during his speech at the Republican National Convention. The former president told the crowd that he would “end the electric vehicle mandate on day one, thereby saving the U.S. auto industry from complete annihilation and saving American customers thousands of dollars per car.”
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