Tesla CEO Elon Musk has dominated the headlines in 2025, waging war on the federal workforce as the head of President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, picking fights on his social media platform X and throwing himself into the first major election since Trump took office.
But developments in the past 24 hours show the limits of Musk’s influence, and the first quantifiable effect his foray into U.S. politics is having globally on his electric car brand.
Susan Crawford, a liberal, won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday, easily defeating her Musk-backed conservative challenger, Brad Schimel, in a race Musk said “might decide the future of America and Western civilization.”
Musk spent a reported $25 million on the race and campaigned on the ground in Wisconsin, handing out $1 million checks to two voters at a rally in Green Bay. He also promised to pay Schimel supporters $20 for every voter they recruited.
But Crawford beat Schimel by 10 points.
“Growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I would be taking on the richest man in the world for justice in Wisconsin,” Crawford told supporters at a celebration in Madison. “And we won.”
In a late-night post on X, Musk said, “I expected to lose, but there is value to losing a piece for a positional gain.”
Tesla sales plunge
A driver in a Tesla passes by people gathered to protest Elon Musk and Tesla outside a Tesla service center location in Seattle on March 29. (Lindsey Wasson/AP)
On Wednesday, Tesla said its sales dropped 13% during the first three months of the year. The company reported deliveries of 336,681 for the quarter, down from sales of 387,000 in the same period a year ago and the largest quarterly drop in its history.
The decline comes amid ongoing protests at Tesla dealerships over Musk’s involvement in right-wing politics.
The company did not mention the protests in a press release announcing its sales figures. But Wall Street analysts said it’s clear the backlash is a major factor for the drop in sales.
“This quarter was an example of the damage Musk is causing Tesla,” Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities said in a note to clients Wednesday.
Tesla’s stock price has plunged by nearly half since hitting a record of $488 per share in mid-December. It opened at $256 per share on Wednesday.
“The brand crisis issues are clearly having a negative impact on Tesla,” Ives told the Associated Press. “There is no debate.”
Two-thirds of Americans now say they wouldn’t drive a Tesla
According to a recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll, a full two-thirds of Americans (67%) now say they would not consider buying or leasing a Tesla — and most of those Americans (56%) cite Musk himself as either “the whole reason” (30%) or “part of the reason” (26%) why.
The survey of 1,677 U.S. adults, which was conducted from March 20 to March 24, also found that Musk’s popularity has plummeted in the last few months, too.
A Yahoo News/YouGov poll conducted in November — just days after Trump announced that Musk would lead DOGE — showed that Americans viewed Musk more favorably (49%) than unfavorably (39%) heading into Trump’s second term.
But according to the most recent Yahoo News/YouGov survey, just 39% of Americans now have a favorable opinion of Musk; a full 55% have an unfavorable opinion. Likewise, a majority of Americans (54%) now say Musk has “too much influence” with Trump, up from 39% in November.
Musk could soon leave government role, reports say
President Trump and Elon Musk shake hands at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship in Philadelphia on March 22. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
According to multiple reports, Musk will soon be leaving his outsized role in the Trump White House.
Politico reported Wednesday that Trump “has told his inner circle, including members of his Cabinet, that Elon Musk will be stepping back in the coming weeks from his current role as governing partner, ubiquitous cheerleader and Washington hatchet man.”
ABC News also reported Trump had told top advisers that Musk would soon step back from his government role.
As head of DOGE, Musk is considered a special government employee, which is defined as “anyone who works, or is expected to work, for the government for 130 days or less in a 365 day period.”
Assuming Musk’s start date was Jan. 20, the 130-day limit would expire at the end of May. (If only week days were counted, his tenure could stretch into July.)
The White House had until recently suggested that Musk could continue past the 130-day limit.
But earlier this week, Trump himself said Musk’s tenure was not open-ended.
“He’s got a big company to run,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “At some point, he’s going to be going back.”
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