Tesla has a Musk problem in my opinion. Before you reflexively downvote because you love Musk, here is polling from Gallup. EV potential purchasing by politica

Tesla has a Musk problem in my opinion. Before you reflexively downvote because you love Musk, here is polling from Gallup. EV potential purchasing by political affiliation: * Republican: 71% would not buy * Independent: 38% would not buy * Democrat: 17% would not buy The overwhelming result is that democrats are way more likely to own or be considering an EV than independents who are themselves overwhelming more likely to than republicans. See: https://news.gallup.com/poll/474095/americans-not-completely-sold-electric-vehicles.aspx#:~:text=not%20buy%20one.-,The%20data%20is%20from%20Gallup's%20March%201-23%2C%202023%20poll,or%20are%20seriously%20considering%20it https://news.gallup.com/poll/474095/americans-not-completely.... Note these results are from last year, prior to Musk spending $250 million dollars to elect a lightning rod republican. I don't want to make this a "political" issue, but the fact of the matter is Musk very publicly spent a quarter of a billion dollars against the interests of his core market. Hell, there are people who know Tesla is a superior product and will now not purchase one essentially against their own interests because of him. * https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/nov/29/tesla-owners-elon-musk https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/nov/29/tesla-own... * https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmorris/2024/08/24/is-elon-musk-driving-away-teslas-core-customers/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmorris/2024/08/24/is-elon-... * https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/would-be-tesla-buyers-snub-company-musks-reputation-dips-2024-04-01/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/would-... Perhaps Musk feels like so publicly aligning himself with a customer base that has not been traditionally receptive will lead to sales growth, but I am skeptical. Perhaps he sees a first mover advantage to discontinued subsidies but again I am skeptical. Democrats who love the idea of purchasing an EV and can afford to do so without the subsidy will buy from Hyundai, Ford, GM, VW or Toyota, those who can't will simply buy a gas powered car.