Tesla Stumbles Through Worst Quarter in Years—Just as Musk’s Approval Ratings Crash

Elon’s empire hits a rough patch: Tesla’s earnings crater while a new poll reveals half of Americans can’t stand the guy. Tech analysts scramble to downgrade targets, and Wall Street whispers—’Maybe focus on cars instead of meme stocks?’

Investors blame musk’s distractions and politics

Elon’s political moves are dragging the whole thing down. His growing involvement with Trump’s administration and a weird-ass group called the Department of Government Efficiency is not going unnoticed.

People aren’t buying what he’s selling—not cars, and definitely not the politics. Earlier this month, there were rumors that Elon might pull back from politics, and that was the first time Tesla shares stopped bleeding for a moment. But then the sales numbers came in, and it was back to hell.

Dave Mazza, the boss at Roundhill Investments, owns Tesla stock and made it clear: “Musk needs to bring the voltage on this earnings call to get the stock out of stall speed.” He said the company is in an “information air pocket” while Elon wastes time with DOGE-related activities instead of fixing the disaster happening in actual markets.

Investors are waiting for real updates, not drama. They want to know when the self-driving car will finally drop. Tesla said it’s coming later this summer, but no one knows exactly when. That’s not helping. While they stall, other EV makers are catching up fast—and some are passing them by. Tesla is losing momentum, and Elon’s got too many distractions.

There’s also zero new model announcement, and that’s making it worse. Everyone else in the industry is pushing out fresh stuff. Tesla’s lineup is getting stale. Add that to the political mess, and it’s just not looking good.

Public sentiment turns even more sour

Tesla is losing fans outside Wall Street too. A CNBC All-America Economic survey found that 47% of Americans now have a negative view of the company. Just 27% are positive, and the rest couldn’t care less.

Compare that to General Motors, where only 10% feel negative, 51% are neutral, and about a third actually like them. That’s a pretty clear message.

The same survey shows 50% of Americans have a negative view of Elon himself. Only 36% have a good opinion, and 16% are neutral. He’s not just disliked. He’s polarizing too. Among Democrats, his net approval is minus 82. Among independents, it’s minus 49. Only Republicans are backing him with a net score of plus 56.

Gene Munster, co-founder of Deepwater Asset Management, gave the harshest forecast yet: “The takeaway for most will likely be that 2025 is a throwaway year.” In other words, don’t expect anything useful this year. Gene thinks Tesla might pull off a comeback in 2026, but for now, the mood is grim.

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