Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Monday, November 4th. Today on Forbes, Elon Musk's relentless

trolling of Democrats is tarnishing Tesla. Elon Musk took a break from stumping for a Republican

presidential candidate Donald Trump to join Tesla's third quarter results call. The electric car

maker's better-than better than expected profit news

sent the stock soaring, wiping out a slump that persisted for much of the year. Fielding softball

questions from Tesla fans and analysts, the billionaire CEO was notably more impassive than his

spasmodic hopping-filled campaign appearances. Not once during the meandering 72-minute call

was Tesla's volatile leader asked the most obvious question. Should he take strident public stands

on politics and social issues that are at odds with Tesla core buyers who largely identify as

Democrats? Forbes spoke with longtime investor and former

Musk fan Ross Gerber, CEO of Los Angeles-based wealth manager Gerber Kawasaki,

who still has a $52 million stake in the company. He said, quote,

Tesla's are the best cars, so it still has this advantage. But over time, it will become harder for Tesla

to get new customers due to his politics. Most CEOs intelligently stay out of politics for good

reason. Elon doesn't care about how his right-wing, ironically anti-environmental support, hurts Tesla.

Multiple consumer surveys back this up. For example, 46% of people in the market

for an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle identify as Democrats, while only 21% and 25% of

buyers of those vehicles say they are Republicans, according to data from Strategic Vision,

a San Diego-based research firm that surveys tens of thousands of consumers weekly.

Auto researcher Edmonds found in its most recent survey data that 31% of car shoppers say they're

now less likely to consider purchasing a Tesla as their next vehicle, specifically because of Musk.

Strategic Vision CEO Alexander Edwards told Forbes, quote,

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