Elon Musk has become a central player in Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, and Democrats hope to turn that into a weakness for the GOP nominee.
The top super-PAC supporting Kamala Harris, Future Forward USA Action, produced the two ads that were in the heaviest rotation among all ads on swing state screens in the first three weeks of October, according to the ad trackers at AdImpact.
They both highlight Trump's links to Musk and other rich donors.
One of the ads features a shot of Musk in a tuxedo as a Pennsylvania voter says, "The 1% don't serve anybody but themselves."
The anti-Musk campaign also appears to be ramping up amid some evidence that the Tesla (TSLA) CEO's popularity has notable limits among undecided voters.
An image from a recently released ad produced by Future Forward PAC, which is allied with Vice President Kamala Harris
On Tuesday afternoon, the formal Harris campaign jumped in after Musk posted on X, formerly Twitter, in agreement with a controversial idea: that it's possible "markets will tumble" if Trump wins, partly as a result of government cuts by Musk (before things equalize and the country emerges on a more solid footing).
Harris-Walz 2024 rapid response director Ammar Moussa responded with a statement saying, in part, "Listen to Trump’s billionaire backer and top surrogate Elon Musk. [Trump would] tank our economy if he wins a second term."
"The Trump campaign has given Democrats a bit of a gift by highlighting Elon Musk," said Evan Roth Smith, a left-leaning pollster at a group called Blueprint who has looked at the billionaire's impact.
He said the idea of Trump being "a stooge for the wealthy and corporate America" is a top-performing message for Democrats among swing voters and it's a potential issue that “dislodges some of these [Nikki] Haley Republicans who are skeptical of his tax policy.”
Smith has also polled perceptions of Musk personally, focused on young male voters, and found that even this group's views of Musk were decidedly mixed.
The poll asked whether Musk's endorsement makes "you more or less likely to support Trump." 24% of respondents answered "more likely," but slightly more, 28%, said "less likely." A plurality of 45% said it would have no impact.
The results were even more stark among independent men of all ages, with 18% saying Musk moved them to Trump and 27% saying it moved them the other way.
A non-scientific survey of Yahoo Finance users last week came to a similar overall result: 25% of respondents said Musk made them more likely to vote for Trump, while almost 28% said he made them less likely.
A focus on Musk in the home stretch
For Trump's part, he doesn't appear to be ratcheting down his Musk mentions at all.
Praise for the CEO is a staple of rally appearances, and Musk was the final speaker Sunday before Trump's wife Melania took the stage at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
That was an appearance where Musk spoke about his plans for a "Department of Government Efficiency" if Trump wins and claimed the effort could save the US $2 trillion. He offered no details about how he would find such savings, which would represent more than all discretionary spending in the US budget.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk exults as he steps on stage during a rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York on Oct. 27. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) ·ANGELA WEISS via Getty Images
In addition to a possible role with Trump, Musk has been center stage on multiple other fronts in recent weeks in ways that could raise questions with voters.
There is growing evidence, in reports from both The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post released Tuesday, that the algorithm on Musk’s social media site X, formerly Twitter, is being tilted toward conservative voices.
Musk also still faces questions about another WSJ report that he is "in regular contact" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Yet Musk has continued to command the spotlight with a steady stream of pro-Trump media posts and daily million-dollar giveaways to registered swing state voters that are now the subject of a lawsuit from Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner.
The mix of issues has led the Harris campaign to go out of its way in recent weeks to highlight Musk's role. Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz called Musk Trump's "running mate" at a recent stop.
Of course, many opinions are mixed on Musk's influence.
Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman, who supports Harris and won a hard-fought contest in the commonwealth two years ago, underlined that Musk has a lot of appeal.
"I mean, to a lot of people, that's Tony Stark," he recently told the New York Times in reference to the “Iron Man” protagonist. "That's going to really matter."
An overall focus on billionaires
The focus in the home stretch of the campaign trail extends beyond Musk to a wide array of billionaires.
Trump has brought up other prominent CEOs at recent stops, saying Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet (GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai have called him separately in recent days.
It's unclear if those two tech CEOs are well-known enough to impact voters, but Smith noted that his polling has found that, while billionaire name checks can be a negative for Republicans among independents, they can be a positive for Democrats like Kamala Harris, whom Trump constantly attacks as anti-business.
"Democrats highlighting the support of people like Mark Cuban and other business leaders helps assuage some of those fears," he said.
Mark Cuban after speaking at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in La Crosse, Wis. on Oct. 17. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) ·ASSOCIATED PRESS
Indeed, his group's polling provides some evidence of that. One October poll asked voters about a potential message from Trump that began with "Elon Musk is a fantastic guy."
It was the least popular among the 14 messages they tested.
It was much more popular among the swing state voters who will decide the election next week.
Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
Every Friday, Yahoo Finance's Rachelle Akuffo, Rick Newman, and Ben Werschkul bring you a unique look at how US policy and government affect your bottom line on Capitol Gains. Watch or listen to Capitol Gains on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
