Evidence is mounting that Elon Musk, widely viewed as the most successful entrepreneur of his generation, is inflicting serious damage to the image of his companies.
Prior to the $44 billion deal, the electric vehicle manufacturer came in 8th place in the reputation ranking of America’s 100 most visible companies in 2021. Last year, however, it dropped to 63rd, and now it is almost at the very bottom, at 95th.
Since the survey asks respondents to rank which companies have the best reputation today based on nine separate criteria and which have the worst, Tesla’s score suggests that Americans familiar with the company view it negatively.
Musk’s EV maker went on to receive terrible marks in nearly every one of the nine categories, save products and services. It scored 98th in “Trust” and “Ethics,” 99th in “Citizenship,” and dead last in “Character.”
“He became political kryptonite,” CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten said on Wednesday, citing his collapse in net favorability according to Ipsos polling.
Speaking about his emphatic stiff-armed salute at Trump’s inauguration, which drew comparisons with Europe’s 1930s fascists, Musk claimed shock at the ensuing blowback.
Neither SpaceX nor X witnessed such a precipitous fall from grace in the Axios Harris poll as Tesla, however.
This could indicate that additional factors are at play behind its collapse in ranking. For example, most of its cars are five to twelve years old and look very stale when compared against the current crop of EVs.
Tesla did not respond to a request by Fortune for comment, but Musk has denied Tesla is suffering from any secular drop in demand resulting from his behavior.
Instead, he has blamed it on overall macro uncertainty and a refresh of its best-selling Model Y.
The Axios Harris poll uses a framework in place since 1999 to judge the reputations of companies that Americans care most about. The three-step process involves polling thousands of people to find out their opinions on which companies—both domestic and foreign—are the best and the worst. Polling began on January 22 and concluded on May 16.
