Groups that once were biggest fans of EVs like Tesla show steepest decline in wanting to own one now
Over the past two years, the only demographic group surveyed that saw an increase in their interest in EVs was Republicans, and that growth was negligible.
Tesla is responsible for creating the electric vehicle market and in many ways is synonymous with EVs. It’s also possible Tesla played a role in shooting itself in the foot.
Back in March 2023, some 59% of US adults said they owned, were strongly considering purchasing, or might consider purchasing an electric vehicle. Now that number is 51%, according to new data from Gallup, which surveyed more than a thousand adults each time.
Over the past two years, American interest in EV ownership has declined among pretty much every demographic group. The largest declines were among moderates, those who live out West, Democrats, college grads, and young people. Only among Republicans did that number seemingly rise, but, given the survey’s overall plus or minus 4 percentage point margin of error, it’s not statistically significant growth.
The thing is, many groups who saw the biggest decline in EV interest are those who historically have been — and currently are — most interested in EVs to begin with. In other words, EVs’ most likely customers are the most likely to have fallen out of love with the idea of owning one.
What’s going on? It could be a lot of things, from EV range anxiety to concern about Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s role in the government. Gallup didn’t ask direct questions about Tesla.
While Musk didn’t publicly endorse President Trump until July of 2024, he said he had been steadily moving to the right politically. He announced that he would no longer support Democrats back in May 2022, soon after he began his acquisition of Twitter.
The Gallup surveys were taken in March of 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Survey data from YouGov shows that Tesla has faced declining popularity among moderates, liberals, and the general population that kicked into high gear around 2022. Amid rising competition and declining popularity, Tesla’s market share in the US fell below 50% for the first time last summer.
Notably, EV sales in the US hit a record earlier this year and despite declines in Tesla sales, they are still the top-selling EV brand in the country.
