Fortune reports:

Evidence is mounting that Elon Musk, widely viewed as the most successful entrepreneur of his generation, is inflicting serious damage on the image of his companies.

On Tuesday, a new Axios Harris annual reputation poll showed that Tesla has continued to fall in the eyes of Americans ever since Musk waded full-on into the nation’s hyper-partisan political debate with the acquisition of Twitter.

Prior to the $44 billion deal, the electric vehicle manufacturer came in eighth place in the reputation ranking of America’s 100 most visible companies in 2021. Last year, however, it dropped to 63rd, and now it is almost at the very bottom, at 95th.

Since the survey asks respondents to rank which companies have the best reputation today based on nine separate criteria and which have the worst, Tesla’s score suggests that Americans familiar with the company view it negatively.

Among all the companies that scored better are BP, the company behind the Deepwater Horizon environmental disaster, and Volkswagen, which cheated diesel emission tests for years before being caught. Even UnitedHealth Group, a company engulfed by criticism over its alleged profits-over-health-care practices, scored higher.

Musk’s EV maker went on to receive terrible marks in nearly every one of the nine categories, save for products and services. It scored 98th in “Trust” and “Ethics,” 99th in “Citizenship,” and dead last in “Character.” [Continue reading…]