More than 60% of Americans think it’s a bad idea for Elon Musk to buy Twitter

By Victoria McNally via SWNS

The transaction may not be final, but eight in 10 Twitter-bound Americans are already prepared to welcome Elon Musk as their new tweet overlord.

That’s according to a survey of 2,000 U.S. residents, conducted just days after Twitter’s Board of Directors agreed to a $44 billion deal granting Musk complete ownership of the social media company. 

Despite reports of mass account deactivations following the news, 79% of polled users believe that putting one of the world’s richest people in charge will transform the platform for the better. 

Seventy-six percent even claimed they’ll use their accounts more frequently because of it.

Conducted by OnePoll on Tuesday, April 27, the survey also found that roughly three in four respondents (71%) have frequented Twitter in the past three months — more than the newest social media platform on the block, TikTok (58%), but not more than longtime juggernaut Facebook (also 71%).

Within that group, 78% access the platform at least once a day, and 57% do so multiple times a day, predominantly for updates about news and current events (35% of all open-ended responses). 

Interestingly, the data also suggests a strong correlation between Twitter fandom and Elon fandom, as those who claimed a favorable opinion of the former were similarly likely to favor the latter.  

Sixty-seven percent of those familiar with Musk even said that they’d consider themselves a “fan,” including more men than women (73% vs 63%).

Despite all that, 63% still don’t think it’s a good idea for him to buy Twitter. 

“He has zero experience with managing a social media platform and a proven track record of undermining the potential of a business entity with his personal inclinations,“ wrote one detractor, referring to Musk’s current position as the CEO of Tesla. 

“It will just be a platform for rich people like Musk or [President] Trump to argue,” said another. “Nobody I know cares about it as a social site, we hate it.”

Regardless of social media usage, 53% of all survey participants agreed that being a billionaire is fundamentally immoral, particularly millennials (66%).

At the same time, 61% agreed that billionaires earn their wealth by “being smarter than others,” and 57% feel they should be allowed to do “whatever they want.” 

Not everyone concurs, however – including the district judge who ruled on Wednesday that Musk cannot back out of the 2018 SEC deal that requires him to screen all his Tesla tweets through a company lawyer first.