According to a new Axios-Ipsos Latino poll in partnership with Noticias Telemundo, a growing number of Latinos in the U.S. say it’s a bad time to be one in America. While more than half of Latinos say it’s a good time, a decline of 9 percentage points since October 2022. 

To make matters worse for one particular business magnate and billionaire, Elon Musk, findings from the poll revealed Latinos are not too keen on the Tesla CEO and Twitter owner, with some not even knowing he existed. 

While on its surface it does not seem like a world ender, the continuously growing Latino community in the U.S. could mean it possibly could be a world ender one day. 

Latinos are in the company of one of the fastest-growing consumers in the U.S. and are devoted and avid social media users, which for the electric vehicle seller and Twitter owner, could bring business problems should the Latino community continue to not buy his Tesla vehicles or leave Twitter as many have in mass exodus following his $44 billion acquisition of the last October.

The mega social media company saw an increase in hate speech after its acquisition by Musk. 

According to the findings, 33% of Latinos surveyed said they had a favorable opinion of Musk, compared to 41% who had an unfavorable view. With that, Musk is lower rated than President Biden (47%) and Vice President Kamala Harris (42%) among Latinos.

Musk only slightly beats former President Trump, who has a 29% favorability percentage with Latinos. 

The South African native is not particularly well known among Latino circles, according to the findings that revealed roughly 25% of Latinos said they didn't know Musk. Ipsos pollster and senior vice president Chris Jackson told Axios that Musk is far less known among Latinos compared to other national figures such as politicians or even celebrities. 

"He's also not necessarily the beloved figure that he may be with some other communities," he said. 

According to the poll, a majority of Latinos said it was important to make the change to electric vehicles because of the worsening climate change, but still expressed more interest in buying gas-powered cars nonetheless. 

Just 41% said they would buy a plug-in hybrid or electric-only vehicle, while 22% said they'd look at a plug-in hybrid or electric-only pickup truck.

They were also more likely to say that it’s important to make the jump to renewable energy and electric vehicles to minimize climate change (60%) instead of saying it is more important to protect the jobs of oil and energy industry workers (36%).

Latinos are as interested in buying a hybrid vehicle that does not need to be plugged (55%) in as they are to be interested in an SUV (54%) or car or sedan (57%). 

Other types of EV's include plug-in hybrid or electric-only vehicles (41%), or a plug-in hybrid or electric only pickup truck (22%).

Most Latinos say the technology industry (77%) and electric vehicles (74%) have a good impact on many people’s lives while the oil and gas industry (54%), artificial intelligence (47%), and the national news media (47%) are viewed less favorably.

"If you juxtapose that against the interests in hybrid and electric, it seems like they're more supportive of electric vehicles than they are of Elon Musk," Jackson said.

1,116 Latino/Hispanic Americans were polled between June 2 and June 9.