The Silver Bulletin tracks Elon Musk's favorability rating through a weighted average of polls, updated periodically. The article does not provide specific numbers on Musk's current popularity, but mentions that the number of polls has decreased dramatically since 2024. As a result, updates will now occur only when new polls are released. The Silver Bulletin's process for calculating Musk's favorability ratings is similar to those used for President Trump's approval ratings, with slightly more conservative settings due to Musk being polled less often.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-03,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Elon Musk's favorability rating has been tracked by the Silver Bulletin since January 2024, but due to the decrease in polls asking about him, updates will now only be published when a new poll is released. The average favors reliability, weighting more trustworthy polls heavier and using more conservative settings than for President Trump's approval ratings. As of September 3, 2026, Musk's favorability rating is not explicitly stated, but the tracking page promises to regularly update this information as new polls come in.
Written for “Elon Musk's Popularity” on 2026-09-03,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
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🕒 The latest on Musk’s favorability rating
Updated September 3, 2026
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latest → update → rating
Over that time, the number of polls asking about Musk has decreased dramatically.
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number → ask → Musk
As a result, we’ll be updating this average less frequently going forward.
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we → update → average
Instead of updating every day, we’ll only publish an update when a new Musk poll is released.
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poll → update → update
That might change if Musk re-enters politics in a serious way.
uncertain
Musk → change → way
-EMD, 9/3/26
This the landing page for the Silver Bulletin average of Elon Musk’s favorability polls, tracking him back to the start of 2024.1
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This → track → 2024.1
We’ll regularly update this average as new polls come in.2
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polls → update → average
This page is designed to be viewed on the web rather than in our email client or in the Substack app.
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page → design → app
Click here for more information on how the average works.
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average → click → information
The Silver Bulletin average weights more reliable polls more heavily — you can find our latest pollster ratings here.
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you → weight → ratings
Our process for calculating Musk’s favorability ratings is similar to that for calculating President Trump’s approval ratings, although we use slightly more conservative settings as Musk is polled less often than Trump.3
The topline:
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Musk → calculate → Trump.3
Our default version of the ratings reflects a combination of all polls, whether conducted among adults, registered voters or likely voters.
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version → reflect → adults
If a pollster releases multiple versions of the same survey, we use the all-adult version of the poll before the registered voter version.4
The polls:
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we → release → version.4
What do the surveys say?
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surveys → say → What
You can see all the numbers for each poll that feeds into our average below.
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that → see → average
You can also click here to download all the Musk favorability numbers — and some additional details not shown in the chart below — for every Musk favorability poll in our database.
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You → click → database
This is a free feature, but it requires work to update and maintain.
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it → require → work
We very much appreciate your support via paid or free subscriptions.
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We → appreciate → subscriptions
We’ll suspend the updates only if Musk so distances himself from politics that pollsters stop regularly asking about him.
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pollsters → suspend → him
More specifically, the settings we use for the Musk tracker are similar to the ones we’ve historically used for our generic ballot averages.
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we → use → averages
In addition to not being polled as often, Musk doesn’t make news as often as the president — thus, abrupt changes in favorability ratings are more likely to be noise rather than signal — and there tend to be larger house effects when different firms poll about him.
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firms → poll → him
Therefore, the settings use for presidential approval would produce an average that is too “bouncy” if applied to Musk.
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that → produce → Musk
