Majority of public think Elon Musk has negative impact on UK politics – poll
Share:
Half the public think Elon Musk is having a negative impact on British politics following his slew of attacks on Sir Keir Starmer and other Labour figures. The South African-born billionaire has spent much of the past week using his social media platform X, attacking the Prime Minister over his opposition to another national inquiry into grooming gangs.
In other posts he has expressed support for Reform UK, but called for its leader Nigel Farage to step aside, and asked his 212 million followers whether America should “liberate” the UK from its “tyrannical government”. He has also been reported to be looking into ways to help remove the Prime Minister from office, and was previously said to be considering a large donation to Reform UK, something senior figures in the party have now dismissed.
But a poll published on Saturday suggested widespread opposition to Mr Musk’s involvement in British politics. Some 53% of people told pollster Opinium they thought Mr Musk was having a negative impact on British politics, compared to just 12% who thought he was having a positive one.
On his comments about grooming gangs specifically, 47% said they thought Mr Musk was being “unhelpful”, compared to 26% who thought the opposite. Reform UK voters were similarly unmoved by his claim that Mr Farage should stand down as party leader, with 71% saying the Clacton MP was the best leader they could have now.
