Tech billionaire Elon Musk saw the reputations of two of his companies, Tesla Motors and SpaceX, plummet, in a new survey conducted by Axios and Harris Poll.
The 2025 poll, released Tuesday, seeks to gauge brand reputations of the 100 “most visible” companies in America, giving each brand an overall score, based on performance in several categories, and ranking the 100 companies accordingly.
In 2021, SpaceX was ranked no. 5 and Tesla was ranked no. 8, with scores of 81.1 and 80.2, respectively.
By 2025, SpaceX is ranked at no. 86 and Tesla is ranked at no. 95, with scores of 66.4 and 61.3, respectively.
While SpaceX in recent years seems to have fallen off the “most visible” list — which is determined through a preliminary survey — Tesla’s reputation had already started to drop last year, when the company ranked at no. 63.
The poor performance in the rankings comes as Musk has taken embraced a more public and polarizing persona, getting involved in President Trump’s 2024 campaign and coming on as a senior adviser in the White House.
As some of Musk’s drastic moves with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) sparked public backlash, his Tesla company began taking a hit—with storefronts getting vandalized and stocks nosediving.
Musk recently said he would take a step back from the administration to focus on his companies. The poll was released shortly before Musk said he also plans to cut back on his political spending.
The Hill has reached out to Tesla and SpaceX for comment.
The poll was conducted in three waves of surveys, including one of 16,585 Americans, from March 6 to 22, which determined the ranking of each brand. The margin of error is 2.5 percentage points.
