CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten reports that Elon Musk’s reach on social media is more influential than the money he can spend campaigning for or against Republicans.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: And after spending — what was it — $ 290 million to help President Trump and his allies get elected in 2024. Last month we all remember Elon Musk said that he had done enough and that he now planned to quote, spend a lot less time spending political — spending politically in the future. Yet he is spending a lot of time right now attacking President Trump’s domestic agenda. So Harry Enten decided it was time to take a look at the political influence of Elon Musk. How much influence can he have if he if he wants to continue to be involved? HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATE ANALYST: Look, if Elon Musk wants to be involved in politics, he can be a huge player, arguably the biggest player who is not actually an elected official. We’ll start with the money, right? I mean, you mentioned it, Kate Bolduan. Where does Elon Musk rank? He ranks number one in spending last cycle. $ 291 million. My God, that’s nearly $ 100 million ahead of number two, Tim Mellon. And, of course, Elon Musk is the richest dude in the world. His net worth is $ 417 billion, with a B, $ 417 billion. Nearly $ 200 million ahead of number two, Mark Zuckerberg. So the bottom line is this. Elon Musk, if he decides he wants to get in THE ARENA, he can absolutely do so. And if he doesn’t like what some of these House members and what some of these Senate members are doing, he can certainly spend a lot of money against them in primaries, and he’s certainly shown a willingness to do so in the past. BOLDUAN: It also seems even more immediately, some of his quote- unquote influence goes much further for him than just the dollars. ENTEN: Yes, it’s not just the dollars. He can reach people. How can he do it? He can do it on social media. What are we talking about? Social media followers. He’s got 220 million social media followers just from X. Oh my God, that’s actually more than Donald Trump has across all different platforms at 186 million. So Elon Musk, his power on social media actually is bigger, bigger than Donald Trump, the President of the United States. So if Elon Musk wants to reach people, he doesn’t just have to do it on television by spending money. He can do it on social media as well because he has 220 million people. And if you look at how many people will retweet essentially him or re-X him, he gets a lot of influence in Republican circles. BOLDUAN: And also with influence then comes the question of how much do people trust him. So where does that go? ENTEN: Yes, it’s one thing if you have a lot of social media followers. It’s another thing if you have a lot of money. The question is, can he actually play in Republican circles? Do Republican voters trust him? And the answer to that, Kate Bolduan, is 100 percent yes. Republicans who view Elon Musk favorably, 83 percent, 83 percent. I looked through a ton of different politicians, people outside of politics. 83 percent of Republicans who view Elon Musk favorably, the only two folks out there who have a favorable rating that high with Republicans is Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. So if Elon Musk wants to play again in Republican circles, he’s got a lot of Republicans who are willing to listen to him. He has a way to reach them on social media and he has a way to reach them on television or through ad spending because he’s shown a willingness to do so in the past and he was number one on both of those in terms of net worth and in terms of social media followers as well. BOLDUAN: That’s a great point. Thank you Harry. ENTEN: Thank you.

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