00:00I want to talk before we get into all the issues. I want to talk about one specific issue between two people, the world's richest billionaire, as well as the world's most powerful leader.
00:11Yes, I'm talking about the fight between Donald Trump and Elon Musk. And we saw this disintegration of this relationship pretty rapidly because a week before, less than a week before, Elon Musk was in the Oval Office and President Trump called Elon Musk, quote,
00:26one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced. And Musk said that he expected to remain a friend and advisor to Trump.
00:34That doesn't really seem to be the case because there was a barrage of social media posts, mostly from Elon Musk.
00:40Some of the most fiery included Musk claiming Trump was in the Epstein files. He reposted a post saying that President Trump should be impeached.
00:49He called said that the tariffs would cause a recession. And then Musk has since walked some of those insults back, saying he regretted some of the posts and that he took it a little bit too far.
00:59But what do the American people think about this fight?
01:03Well, you know, we asked a series of questions around the fight more for fun than anything.
01:09But I think that this is a fight that Trump wins on a few different dimensions.
01:17And Elon rightly understood that he overstepped with the fight.
01:22So, you know, first and foremost, we asked, who do you generally trust more when it comes to economic policy?
01:28Trump or Musk or neither or both equally?
01:31And leaving neither a side, which was 49 percent of the public and both equally 11 percent, 33 percent said they trust Donald Trump versus 7 percent who said that they trust Elon Musk.
01:43So the level of trust when it comes to Trump and his administration around economic policy is four or five times higher than when it comes to Elon.
01:55Then we asked, you know, what were the motivations around the fight?
01:59Did you think that Musk was acting out of genuine concern for economic policy or was he more motivated by his personal and business?
02:08And some 41 percent mostly motivated by personal and business gain, followed by 35 percent said a mix of both, followed by 12 percent said it was a genuine concern for national economic policy.
02:23So, again, some of the motivations, the fact that the tax credits were eliminated from the bill and there were several provisions in there that would personally harm Musk's businesses, this was not lost on the general public.
02:38And Elon might have truly been motivated by genuine concern and voters actually do share concern around the bill that it will add to the national debt.
02:52And they're very split on the bill that Trump is trying to put forward, the big, beautiful bill because of that.
02:59But it didn't really come through with the fight.
03:02Right. And, you know, the labeling, calling it a disgusting abomination, people were very split on whether it was appropriate or inappropriate.
03:12So, you know, this is one of those temporary fights has already blown over the plurality, you know, 40 percent said that this is a temporary fight, whereas the rest, you know, either put their heads up in the air.
03:28Or when we asked the question, said too early to tell only about a quarter, said that there is a growing divide.
03:34And the fact that Elon apologized, that kind of shifted course, says a lot about the the way that public opinion settled pretty quickly after the start of this fight.
03:47And let's talk about the moment we saw this fight really ratchet up, which you described as when Elon Musk really went after the big, beautiful bill.
03:56And President Trump characterized that legislation as arguably the most significant piece of legislation that will ever be signed.
04:02This is his hallmark policy in here.
04:05Elon Musk called it a disgusting abomination.
04:08Where do the American people feel?
04:10Where do they more side with when it comes to this legislation?
04:14Do they feel like it's that important, as President Trump says?
04:17Do they think it's a disgusting abomination, like how Elon Musk characterized it?
04:21I mean, what do they make of this act?
04:23Well, they're somewhere in the middle, right?
04:28First off, voters are split in their understanding of whether or not the TCJA, the original tax bill from 2017, led to economic growth and prosperity or whether it just got to debt.
04:43So that's the starting point.
04:45Then, when you ask them, you know, will it increase, making these tax cuts permanent, before you get into the elements of the big, beautiful bill, because it's a wide-ranging bill.
04:56When you ask them, you know, will it increase debt or will it decrease it?
05:01By a factor of two to one, they think that it will increase debt.
05:04So 40% said increased debt.
05:0621% said decreased the debt in the long term because of economic growth and several other provisions in the package.
05:14And the rest were unsure.
05:16So while two-thirds of voters have heard of Trump, a big, beautiful bill, and there are provisions in that bill that they like, specific line items, they're very concerned on whether or not the bill balances tax relief and spending.
05:36And they really, right now, think that it adds too much to the federal debt.
05:42And therefore, they're quite split on it, quite split on whether it will make the economy worse or it will improve the economy.
05:50Trump has not sold the public yet on the big, beautiful bill.
