Conservatives are rallying around Tesla while liberals ditch or distance themselves from Elon Musk’s electric vehicles (EVs) in a surprising about-face for a company whose fate is deeply tied to the politics of sustainability and climate issues.
Republicans, who have long eschewed electric vehicles and the movement away from fossil fuels, have come to Tesla’s defense as it suffers financially and faces attacks tied to Musk’s work with the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, U.S. liberals and European buyers are taking out their frustrations over Musk and President Trump’s policies by getting rid of their Teslas and boycotting the company. In a few extreme cases, Tesla vehicles have been vandalized, and dealerships have been attacked.
"It's a little bit of a twilight zone for Tesla,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives.
Generally, more Democrats than Republicans buy EVs. A 2023 Gallup survey found that 6 percent of Democrats, 4 percent of independents and 1 percent of Republicans owned electric cars.
And just 1 percent of Republicans said they would seriously consider buying an EV in the future, compared to 12 percent of independents and 22 percent of Democrats.
While on the campaign trail, electric vehicles became something of a culture war issue for Trump and Republicans, as the president decried Biden’s pro-EV policies as an attack on consumer choice. His tone softened somewhat as he and Musk grew closer, but even as he has publicly embraced Tesla, Trump has still broadly opposed his predecessor’s policies.
Amid Tesla’s woes, Trump publicly purchased a Tesla earlier this month, praising the cars from the perch of the White House.
His supporters have also made public displays of affection toward Musk’s electric cars.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick encouraged Americans to buy Tesla stock on March 19, touting Musk as “probably the best entrepreneur, the best technologist, the best leader of any set of companies in America working for America.”
“I think, if you want to learn something on this show tonight: Buy Tesla,” Lutnick said. “It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap. It’ll never be this cheap again.”
Fox News host and Trump ally Sean Hannity revealed earlier this month that he had purchased a Tesla while promoting a sweepstakes to win one of Musk’s cars on his website.
“It’s like the greatest car ever invented. It really is, and I’m not just saying that,” Hannity said during an interview with Musk last week.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) also posed with a Tesla in a picture posted on social media, writing, “Pretty snazzy car,” and tagging Musk.
Despite the GOP show of support, Tesla’s brand has suffered in recent weeks from its close association with Musk as he has taken on a prominent and controversial role in the administration leading the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to slash government spending and the federal workforce.
Tesla’s stock price has nosedived, falling more than 40 percent since its peak in mid-December. The company has shed more than $500 billion in market value since the end of the year.
“Clearly, there's some benefits to that in terms of new buyers and new supporters, but the reality is for most Musk and Tesla, he needs to balance DOGE and Tesla CEO, otherwise this near-term brand issue could turn into something broader,” Ives said.
March represented the highest-ever level of trade-ins of Tesla vehicles recorded on car-shopping website Edmunds.
A total of 1.4 percent of the site’s trade-ins were Teslas, up from 0.4 percent a year ago. Meanwhile, research activity for Teslas on the website was also down to its lowest level.
However, Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’s head of insights, noted that due to the high cost of cars generally, most Tesla owners are still likely to hold onto their cars for the time being, even if they don’t like Musk.
“Unlike switching smartphone brands or streaming services, replacing a car is a major financial decision, and even the most disillusioned Tesla owners will likely hold onto their vehicles out of necessity,” Caldwell said in a statement.
At least one high-profile Democrat has vowed to ditch his Tesla. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) announced earlier this month he would look for a new ride, saying he doesn’t want to drive a car “built and designed by an a‑‑hole.” He later showed off a new Chevy Tahoe SUV.
“Every time I get in this car in the last 60 days or so, it reminds me of just how much Elon Musk and Donald Trump is doing to our country,” Kelly said in a video.
Other liberals have taken a less drastic approach, purchasing bumper stickers to indicate their distaste for Musk, such as “I Bought This Before Elon Went Crazy” or “Anti Elon Tesla Club.”
Tesla sales in Europe have also plunged. Data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association showed that Tesla sales fell by 49 percent in Europe during the first two months of 2025.
“It would take a lot to reverse this downward slump with liberals and progressives,” said Maxwell Shulman, a research analyst at Beacon Policy Advisors.
“Something would have to seriously change to get a lot of people to now reconsider their abandonment of Tesla,” he continued. “And standing over here, I can't quite see what that would be. I think for a lot of Democrats, Elon Musk has permanently lost them as a customer base.”
Despite Trump and his allies’ support for Tesla, it may not spur many more sales to conservatives, Shulman said, let alone enough to cancel out losses among liberals.
“It seems that Tesla is losing a lot more and potential clients than gaining them. ... It's not necessarily clear that the conservative embrace of Tesla is actually translating into Republicans going out and buying the vehicles,” he said.
Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights at Cox Automotive said she agreed sales declines may not be offset by new Republican supporters, even if they view Musk favorably, because of the traditional GOP opposition to EVs
"As you start to look at just broader [EV] adoption ... people that care about the environment are more liberal," Valdez Streaty said.
Although Musk is polarizing, Valdez Streaty said, data hasn’t shown any “huge” shifts in sales. And she said Tesla’s fate may be driven by other challenges facing EVs as the Trump administration takes aim at tax credits and infrastructure incentives created for the industry.
Tesla is one of many companies that benefits from extended and expanded EV tax credits passed in 2022 by the Democrats and former President Biden. These credits could be on the chopping block under the Republican-led legislature — and could drive up the price of EVs, including Teslas.
Musk has said he does not need the credit and that Trump's anti-EV moves could ultimately benefit Tesla by stifling competitors.
Tesla remains the leading manufacturer of EVs in the U.S., significantly outpacing its competitors with more than 40 percent of the market share last year.
Traditional automakers, such as General Motors and Hyundai, have managed to grow their EV sales in recent years but remain well behind Musk’s company. Many traditional automakers are also selling their vehicles at lower prices than Teslas.
EV-focused competitors, like Rivian and Lucid, focus primarily on luxury products and make up smaller shares of the market.
Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3, the Ford Mustang Mach-E, the Honda Prologue, and the Rivian R1S were the nation’s top-selling EVs in February, according to Cox Automotive.
