Musk and Trump are viewed roughly the same by Americans, an AP-NORC poll finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk, clad in tuxedo and black tie, took the stage at President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort shortly after the election with all the swagger of the winning candidate himself.

“The public has given us a mandate that could not be more clear, the clearest mandate. The people have spoken. The people want change," Musk told the audience of Trump's biggest donors, campaign leaders and appointment seekers. “We are going to shake things up. It's going to be a revolution.”

Musk's attachment to Trump has created an alliance between America's most powerful politician and its richest businessman — and roughly the same percentages of Americans have favorable views of each, according to a new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Experts are split on whether that overlap in public opinion is a good or bad thing for Musk’s businesses or for Trump’s politics. But it could have far-reaching effects in both realms.

Musk, whose net worth tops $400 billion, oversees six businesses while continuing to work closely with Trump: electric car manufacturer Tesla, the X social media platform, space technology company SpaceX, brain link company Neuralink, the startup xAI and tunneling operator The Boring Co.

“Even though there’s a negative impact, in terms of potentially alienating some of their customers that might not be fans of Trump, the benefits far outweigh any negatives when it comes to having a right-hand seat next to Trump in the White House,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities.

Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, identified himself as an investor in Musk's Tesla and a driver of Tesla’s new Cybertruck, the futuristic pickup that has gotten huge amounts of attention but also been the subject of safety concerns and multiple recalls.

“Having your CEO not working at your company and working at the job of having to fire government employees ... as a shareholder, I’m paying someone to not work for my company,” he said. “As a Cybertruck owner with self-driving that sucks and doesn’t work, I’m like, ‘Dude, this isn’t fair.’”

But despite his skepticism, Gerber said he won’t stop investing in Musk’s businesses.

“I’ve made a lot of money with Elon,” he said. “I’m not in the business of investing based on the popularity of CEOs.”

Musk doesn’t appear to give Trump much boost with people who don’t back the incoming president.

He is no more popular with the U.S. public than the president-elect himself, and viewed unfavorably by about half of Americans, according to the AP-NORC poll.

About 4 in 10 Americans have a somewhat or very favorable view of the world’s richest person, very similar to the percentage who view Trump positively. Likewise, about half of adults have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Musk — again, similar to Trump.

Instead, said one political strategist, Musk is the ideal validator for someone who cultivates an image of success in business and who has stocked his Cabinet and key adviser roles with billionaires.

"Trump has always pushed this narrative that he’s a successful developer and a very successful businessman. I think having Musk with him is his double-down on this business success, good-for-the-economy, good-for-everybody-making money kind of persona,” said Christine Matthews, a national political pollster who has worked for Republicans. “In this case, Musk is seen as this successful, innovative, tech entrepreneur, frontier-buster.”

Musk also has at his disposal X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that he purchased and turned into a megaphone for conservative ideas. And having spent an estimated $250 million to support Trump in the election, Musk has signaled he is willing to back Republican primary challenges to GOP members in the House and Senate seeking reelection in 2026 who waver on Trump's appointments and agenda.

Trump has tasked him with leading a group to reduce the size of the federal government and reduce the rulemaking authority of the federal bureaucracy.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

Some analysts believe the billionaire’s role will create a very friendly landscape for Tesla over the coming years. Ives, the analyst at Wedbush Securities, said Musk’s relationship with Trump could “revolutionize the Tesla story, especially around robotics, AI and autonomous.”

Investors, he said, are betting on Musk and see his political ascent as a “champagne moment.” Unlike Gerber, Ives believes that ending the EV credit and taking subsidies from Detroit carmakers, Hyundai and other companies will create only opportunity for Tesla.

“I think Wall Street is starting to fully digest the potential benefits from Musk,” Ives said.

Tesla shares closed at a record high on Tuesday, with much of the company’s recent gains coming after Trump’s victory. But Gerber feels that jump is because investors believe Tesla will have an advantage when it comes to autonomous driving because Trump could grant the company a national autonomy license.

Still, he thinks Tesla will be the “big loser” of Musk’s businesses because of Trump’s promise to end the EV tax credit for carmakers.

“For Tesla, I don’t see a ton of benefit from this,” he said. “Elon is misleading people to say it hurts the competition if the credit goes away.”

Musk’s other companies — including his artificial intelligence company, xAI — could reap the benefits of working within the Trump administration, he said.

“AI is a transformative investment that will create lots of regulatory and governmental issues, especially around safety and information,” Gerber said. “There’s a lot of benefit, from an AI perspective, to having Elon where he is.”

The relationship between the two men has no parallel in U.S. history, said David Nasaw, biographer of American business tycoons Andrew Carnegie and William Randolph Hearst. He noted that Musk, to a level unlike other tycoons, has relied on subsidies and favorable government decisions for his success from Tesla to SpaceX.

“He’s a unicorn,” Nasaw said of Musk.

Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa, and Parvini reported from Los Angeles.

FILE - Elon Musk jumps on the stage as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - Elon Musk speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - President-elect Donald Trump poses for a photo with Dana White, Kid Rock and Elon Musk at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - President-elect Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk as he arrives to watch SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lift off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Nov. 19, 2024. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP, File)

In this picture taken through a window, President-elect Donald Trump, from left, Trump's pick for the planned Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk and Vice President-elect JD Vance attend the NCAA college football game between Army and Navy at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

FILE - Elon Musk speaks after President-elect Donald Trump spoke during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, left, and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump attend a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The NBA Cup finalists had different styles in how they play. And how they spend.

Tuesday night's title game in Las Vegas between Milwaukee and Oklahoma City pitted a team in the Bucks that's over the NBA's second apron — a threshold that, once exceeded, limits ways that teams can trade for or sign players — and a team in the Thunder below the first apron.

In NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's eyes, that might be fitting.

“I think it's great for the new (collective bargaining agreement),” Silver said Tuesday in a meeting with reporters before the NBA Cup title game , which Milwaukee won 97-81. “At the same time, there is a correlation between success on the floor and spending — and that’s the reason behind the second apron. We're not trying to make any secret out of it.”

The aprons are certainly going to limit how some teams make trades in the coming months. Earlier this season, when Minnesota and New York were trying to finalize the trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks, Timberwolves basketball operations president Tim Connelly said the new CBA rules were complex to navigate.

“The new rules … some of the consequences are unintended, quite frankly,” Connelly said this fall. “I don’t know if anyone intended to make it this challenging to make moves, to make trades when you’re above certain aprons.”

Silver reiterated that the league knew what some of the new challenges would be.

“I understand the frustration of some of the general managers because particularly if you go over the apron, we’ve cut down on your flexibility,” Silver said Tuesday. “But that was the very intent of the second apron and with the goal being to have a better distribution of star talent around the league. And I think we’ve been successful in doing that.”

It's the league's stance that big-market and big-spending teams can win, and smaller-market and lesser-spending teams can do the same. Milwaukee is one of four teams currently over the second apron, along with Boston, Phoenix and Minnesota.

“There's many different ways to win,” Silver said.

The NBA Cup is coming back next season. The question is if the NBA Cup is coming back to Las Vegas.

The NBA's new broadcast agreements begin next season, and one of the league's new partners — Amazon — will be covering the knockout round of the tournament. But there's been no decision on where the 2025 title game will be played.

“There has been some interest expressed by teams in playing in the home markets,” Silver said. “It’s complicated enough scheduling a neutral site. I’m not against playing in our markets.

He said the question to figure out is how it would work a scheduling standpoint. There's a flip side of the coin, that being the league has liked how the first two years of the event have been received in Las Vegas.

“You start to build in tradition, you have a lot of fans who can circle these dates on their calendar and plan to come to Las Vegas, plan a holiday around it,” Silver said. "I think the teams are on both sides. I think they like the idea of winning that opportunity to play at home. But then you’ve got to move tickets very short term. We have some experience doing that in the playoffs, but this is a little bit different.”

But if Bucks coach Doc Rivers gets a vote, it'd stay in Vegas.

“Right here. Right here,” Rivers said after his team won the title Tuesday night. “Listen, I was proven wrong in a very good way. I was worried that if a (Los Angeles) team wasn't in the Cup we couldn't get enough people in the crowd. And the people from Las Vegas showed up. It was packed today and that's huge — not only for Vegas, but for the league.”

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Milwaukee Bucks center Brook Lopez, front left, looks to shoot against Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young, front right, during the second half of a semifinal game in the NBA Cup basketball tournament Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)

Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks (9) and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort (5) contest for a rebound during the second half of a semifinal game in the NBA Cup basketball tournament Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)