TECHNOLOGY

Ken Ewell

April 25, 2022 | 2 min read

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Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and the soon-to-be owner of Twitter, has a +16 favorability rating among the general population in the U.S., (41%FAV/25%UNFAV/31%DK) and a +15 favorability rating among Twitter users (47%FAV/32%UNFAV/21%DK).

These data come from a new Momentive poll fielded April 18-25, 2022 among 7,031 adults in the U.S., including 1,613 Twitter users.

Among men, Musk’s favorability is +33; among women it’s even (28%FAV/28%UNFAV), but more (40%) don’t know enough to rate him at all. 

Twitter right/wrong direction

More than half (53%) of people said Twitter was headed in the right direction as a company; 44% said it was headed in the wrong direction.

Among Twitter users, more think Musk would have a positive effect on the company’s direction if he had more involvement than thought he would have a negative effect (43% vs 33%). 

Free speech

Increasingly, Americans see social media as doing more to hurt than help democracy and free speech. Fully two-thirds now say Twitter, Facebook, and others hurt, up significantly over the past five years. 

The underlying online speech issues are divisive: 50% see it as more important that people are able to speak freely online while 47% prioritize people’s feeling welcome and safe online

Here too the partisan lines are clear: by better than 2-1 Republicans emphasize speaking freely, while Democrats break 2-1 toward having people feel welcome and safe online. 

Twitter’s decision to permanently ban former president Trump likewise breaks down the middle and in a clearly partisan way. Overall, it’s 47% support, 50% oppose.

What’s Next? 

By a 10-point margin Twitter users are more apt to say Musk would have a positive than a negative impact on the company. 

Republicans on Twitter are far more likely to see a positive turn ahead, 77% see Musk ushering in better times vs. just 22% of Democrats on Twitter. 

In fact, Musk may find himself quickly at odds with many Twitter users. Across the services we asked about, Twitter has the most Democratic users (49% Dem or lean Dem) and Musk's favorability is -18 among Dems nationally. 

Finally, there's big support for the “edit” button. The vast majority of Twitter users (79%) support Musk’s push to add an edit button for Tweets, and this is supported across the political spectrum.