Elon Musk has damaged his already poor reputation in the UK after a social media deluge over the handling of child sex grooming cases in the 2010s, a new poll has found.
The South African-born billionaire spent much of the last week attacking the prime minister over his opposition to another national inquiry into grooming gangs. He even asked his 212 million followers whether the United States should “liberate” the UK from its “tyrannical government”.
Last Monday, the prime minister condemned the billionaire’s commentary as “lies and misinformation”, reserving significant disdain for his attacks on safeguarding minister Jess Phillips.
Musk said that Phillips “deserves to be in prison” for denying requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into historic child sexual exploitation in Oldham and called her a “rape genocide apologist”.
According to YouGov, seven in ten Britons (71 per cent) now say they have an unfavourable view of Musk — up seven points since a previous poll in November. A majority of Britons (55 per cent) have a “very” unfavourable view of the X and Tesla boss, a 14 point increase.
Only 20 per cent of the public say they have a favourable view of Musk, a figure that YouGov notes is within the margin of error from the previous poll’s 18 per cent.
From YouGov: British opinion towards Elon Musk has become even more negative following his interventions on the gang grooming scandal
— Josh Self (@josh-self.bsky.social) 2025-01-13T14:17:56.396Z
***Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest news and analysis.***
The only group that possess a favourable view of Musk are Reform UK voters, with 51 per cent holding a positive opinion. This is largely unchanged from 54 per cent in November.
But there has also been a significant increase in the number of Reform UK voters with a negative opinion of Musk. In November, 24 per cent professed a negative opinion — that has now risen to 41 per cent.
While Musk has expressed support for Reform on X, he called for Nigel Farage to resign as leader last week. Musk argued Farage “does not have what it takes” because he refuses to support for jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
Plus: Reform UK voters are significantly more likely to dislike Elon Musk now than they were in November
— Josh Self (@josh-self.bsky.social) 2025-01-13T14:17:56.397Z
Overall, more than two thirds of Britons (69 per cent) say they do not trust Musk on the issue of grooming gangs, including 57 per cent who say they don’t trust him “at all”.
Only 15 per cent say they trust Musk much on the issue, according to YouGov’s findings, with just 5 per cent saying they trust him “a lot”.
Week-in-Review: The spectre of Elon Musk will continue to haunt Starmer
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest news and analysis.
Source: Politics
