As popular as the idea of a centrist third party might be among Americans, the one Elon Musk is launching as the America Party is even more unpopular.
A third party has the support of 63% of U.S. adults, but when asked if Musk's party is the answer, 74% say no, according to a new CNN poll released Thursday morning.
Musk's America Party has just 25% support, trailing the 63% Americans supportive of a third party to compete with Democrats and Republicans by nearly 40 points.
After President Donald Trump left the White House in January 2021 he weighed running for president outside of the Republican Party, but he ultimately declined to do so.
Now with Democrats at an all-time low in favorability in the history of the CNN polling at just 28%, and Republicans favorability just 5 points better at 33%, a third party has a potential lane to monkey wrench midterm elections.
Musk is attempting to seize that opportunity after his break from Trump, but he has already angered left-leaning centrists by backing Trump in 2024 and alienated Trump's MAGA base by breaking from him. Musk is underwater by 37 points in his own favorability as a large majority of 60% view him unfavorably and just 23% view him favorably, according to the poll conducted by SSRS.
"That shift is almost entirely due to lost goodwill among the president's partisans: While 75% of Republicans had a positive view of him in March, that stands at just 42% now," according to the CNN poll analysis. "His favorability ratings among Democrats and independents remain largely unchanged and deeply negative.
"Americans have long been receptive to the idea of a third party, but when specific ideas and agendas are attached to that new party, support tends to drop dramatically, and candidates from existing third parties rarely win meaningful support in American elections."
SSRS conducted the July 10-13 poll among 1,057 U.S. adults, and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.