Most Americans Support Elon Musk’s Efforts to Make Twitter ‘More Free and Transparent’: Poll

SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk laughs as he arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer Awards ceremony, in Berlin, Germany, on Dec. 1, 2020. Hannibal Hanschke/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

A significant portion of American citizens are supportive of industrialist Elon Musk’s efforts to ensure freedom of speech on Twitter, according to a poll by Trafalgar Group and Convention of States.

The poll asked respondents whether they support Musk seeking to make Twitter a “more free and transparent platform.” According to the survey, 52.3 percent responded positively, while 31.3 percent were not supportive of Musk’s actions at Twitter. The remaining 16.3 percent were “not sure.” Without the “not sure” option, support for Musk jumped to 62.6 percent, while those against such changes only made up 37.4 percent.

Among Democrats, 59.3 percent were against Musk, 23.5 percent were unsure, and just 17.1 percent extended support. Among Republicans, support for Musk’s actions was 84.8 percent, which is the highest in the survey. Only 10.2 percent were unsure about the matter, while just 5 percent rejected Musk’s attempts.

As to respondents who are not associated with any party, 54.2 percent extended support to Musk strengthening free speech and transparency on Twitter, while only 30.5 percent rejected such developments.

The survey, which saw the participation of 1,085 likely general election voters, was conducted between Nov. 30 and Dec. 3.

The poll comes as Musk had admitted last month that Twitter used to have an anti-conservative bias before he took over.

“It is objectively the case that ‘conservative’ political candidates were more negatively affected than ‘progressive’ candidates. Anyone using Twitter knows this. Question is simply one of magnitude,” Musk commented in a tweet on Nov. 24.

Conservative Suppression

Musk had recently shared a Twitter threat by independent journalist Matt Taibbi who detailed a series of internal communications at the social media platform that provided insight into the actions taken by the staff to suppress the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Musk later responded to the issue, suggesting that the suppression is a violation of the First Amendment. In an interview with Fox, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the GOP ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, called for an official look into the matter.

“Every employee at Twitter who was involved in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story will have an opportunity to come before Congress and explain their actions to the American people,” Comer said.

In November, Musk reinstated the undercover journalism organization Project Veritas, which was banned last year after it did a series of exposes on major companies like Twitter and CNN.

In 2018, an exposé by Veritas using undercover reporters caught several Twitter employees admitting on camera that the platform had an anti-conservative bias. One employee revealed that discussions on topics like America, guns, and God were classified as bot-like behavior.