By Aaron Zitner
Third parties rarely succeed in American politics. But Elon Musk's question to his X followers about whether it's time to form a centrist political party raises an intriguing question:
Who would join a Musk-led party? Republicans overwhelmingly approve of Musk's work to cut the federal bureaucracy-some 72% of GOP voters said so in an April Fox News poll. But Republicans give even higher marks to Trump, and so it's hard to see major defections from a Trump-led GOP.
How about independents, who by definition don't see either of the two major parties as a political home? Winning them over could be tough: Only 26% of independents in the Fox poll approved of Musk's budget-cutting. And 56% of independents viewed Musk unfavorably in an Economist/YouGov poll in late May and early June, with 34% viewing him favorably. Still, drawing even a small share of GOP and unaffiliated voters could make a third party a force in many races.
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June 05, 2025 17:37 ET (21:37 GMT)
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