A Look Into Elon Musk’s New Political Party

Elon Musk standing against the background of the United States flag.

On America’s Independence Day, Elon Musk put out a poll on X/Twitter that stated the following:

“Independence Day is the perfect time to ask if you want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system! Should we create the America Party?”

A total of 1,248,856 people voted, and close to 812,000 people, or about 65%, said that they indeed did want to see a new political party in the United States. During the 2024 presidential election, Elon Musk played a key role in securing Trump’s victory and preserving the Republican Party’s power. From once being close friends and political allies, Musk and Trump have seemingly turned against each other recently. 

The feud between them primarily started with the introduction of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBBA). He said that the bill had a lot of “pork-filled” spending and that it would drastically drive up the U.S. deficit. Not only that, he believed that the bill undermined the efforts he made to cut government waste as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Trump, however, defended the OBBBA as a critical component of his domestic agenda, insisting Musk was aware of its details and initially supportive. This disagreement marked the beginning of a public and bitter rift. Trump started off by withdrawing the nomination of Musk’s ally, Jared Isaacman, for NASA administrator. Shortly after, he threatened to end electric vehicle tax credits, a move that directly impacted Musk’s Tesla. 

Ever since then, Musk and Trump have grown farther apart, with Musk most recently, as mentioned earlier, stating plans to start his own political party called the America Party. According to him, this new party will represent the “middle 80%” of the population, which he believes has been underrepresented and sometimes even ignored for a long time. But is it possible to create a new political party all of a sudden, and would it even be successful if it was possible?

The Feasibility of the America Party

Elon Musk’s poll on X/Twitter and its results.

According to Forbes’ estimates, Elon Musk has a net worth of over $400 billion. Assuming that even a fraction of that wealth is liquid, Musk could easily create, manage, and spread his new political party and its campaigns. However, the major hurdle is that the United States Electoral System heavily favors a process centered around two parties, which, in this case, would be the Democrats and the Republicans.

In recent history, attempts made by a third party to get into power, especially during a presidential election, have always failed, and third parties like the Libertarian Party rarely manage to get over 5% of the vote. In addition, the winner-takes-all system in place makes it even harder.

For example, even if Musk’s party works hard and garners 30% of the votes in a state or district, it still has to beat the other dominant parties, whether it be the Democrats or the Republicans, to win. The chances of this happening are incredibly slim, and outside of a couple outliers, it’s unlikely that Musk’s new party, let alone any new political party, will gain meaningful power in the government.

It’s also important to note that both the Republican Party and Democratic Party are deeply rooted in many Americans’ lives, and they’ve been influencing the country for decades upon decades. In some families, these parties have left such a deep mark that loyalty is being passed down to next generations. With such a strong foundation, it’ll be hard for the America Party to change these people’s minds. And even for the swing voters that aren’t firmly on one side, it’s often discouraging to vote for a new party if it’s likely that they don’t have a chance of winning.

Most importantly, there are ballot access laws, which pose the most significant challenge for the America Party. It varies from state to state, but in general, many require signatures from thousands or even millions of registered voters within tight deadlines to secure a spot on the ballot. For instance, California demands signatures from at least 1.1 million voters or signing up 0.33% of the state’s voters (~75,000 people) as registered members for a new party to show up on the ballot.

The America Party’s Ideologies and Core Principles

Elon Musk has not explicitly stated what kinds of beliefs or policies the America Party would promote and support, but we can reasonably infer from his posts and public statements, as well as his work at DOGE and his various businesses.

It’s likely that the America Party would prioritize slashing government waste and reducing the federal deficit, reflecting Musk’s sharp criticism of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” for its “pork-filled” spending. In other words, the party would probably support policies with huge spending cuts.

With Musk being a major stakeholder in large companies, his party would probably also be in support of deregulating businesses, promoting economic growth, lowering corporate taxes, passing more policies that encourage electric vehicles and green energy, and opposing Trump’s tariffs, which Musk said would cause recessions.

Musk has also been in favor of reducing censorship, widespread free speech, and giving benefits to the “middle 80%.” However, many critics have already expressed their doubts, as most political parties say they’re in support of these things, and they don't really set the America Party apart from other political parties. There have been concerns about X/Twitter suppressing certain content as well, which, if true, is exactly the opposite of what Musk claims to be in support of.

Conclusion

A lot of people believe that Elon Musk’s new America Party will provide a new platform towards a promising future. However, those opposing the party say that it’ll just be another generic political party that caters towards the personal motives of Musk. Regardless of what people may believe, it’ll objectively be hard for the America Party to thrive in the United States’ dominant two-party system, especially given that there are many citizens that already have a negative perception of Musk. After he announced his new political party, Tesla’s stock tanked 7.6%, slashing $14 billion from his net worth in just a single day. It’s been a rough start for Musk and his party, but we’ll have to see if they stand their ground.