On July 5, against the backdrop of an ongoing conflict with U.S. President Donald Trump, Elon Musk announced the founding of the America Party, aiming to challenge the historically established two-party system in the United States. Since early July, this initiative has been receiving support from certain political circles and business representatives, indicating a degree of public demand for a new force in the American political arena.
Read our article to learn about the potential political platform and electoral prospects of Musk’s party.
After being dismissed from his position as Senior Advisor to the President, Musk entered into open confrontation with Trump, launching a poll on the social media platform X on June 5 about the need to “create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle.” More than 80% of respondents approved of the initiative. Then, on July 4 — U.S. Independence Day — Musk directly posed the question “if you want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system” to which nearly two-thirds of the audience answered “yes.”
Although the America Party is not yet officially registered, Musk’s actions and reports from certain sources indicate the seriousness of his intentions, which include participation in the next congressional elections scheduled for November 2026. In this regard, the question arises as to what chances a hypothetical America Party would have to gain representation in the legislature, and whether a “third force” under current conditions could become a viable alternative to Republicans and Democrats.
Since the end of the Civil War of 1861–1865, the United States has solidified a two-party system, in which real political power is contested exclusively between the Republican and Democratic parties. This particular political reality is largely the result of a first-past-the-post electoral system, which discourages voters from giving a chance to an alternative candidate in their district, as well as the indirect presidential election system, which does not provide for a second round. As a result, challenging the leading parties becomes an almost impossible task, especially considering that a nationwide election campaign requires enormous financial resources.
Since 1968, the only moderately successful attempts to break into the presidential race were those of billionaire Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996, when he received 18.9% and 8.4% of the popular vote respectively, yet secured 0 electoral votes, as he did not win a single state. In 1995, Perot founded the Reform Party of the USA, which participated in several U.S. House of Representatives elections but failed to achieve any success, despite the fact that its leader promoted popular and progressive ideas for the time and was able to invest his own funds into campaigns.
In the past decade, the Libertarian and Green parties have fielded candidates at all levels of elections, but their ratings traditionally hover around the margin of error, making the fight for congressional representation virtually impossible.
Despite the negative historical experience of trying to break into the U.S. two-party system, current trends suggest growing public disillusionment with both Democrats and Republicans. For example, Gallup reported in 2023 that over 40% of Americans identify as “independent,” an all-time record in the history of the survey. It is increasingly evident that voters are becoming less interested in “duel-style” politics, where the choice essentially comes down to picking “the lesser of two evils.” Even though Joe Biden’s Democratic administration left office amid a wave of public dissatisfaction, the incumbent president Donald Trump has not enjoyed significant popularity during the first half-year of his term (in June 40% of respondents approved of his performance, while 54% disapproved).
Today, both the Republican and Democratic parties are drifting further away from the political center, prompting part of the electorate to desire a moderate alternative capable of reducing political toxicity and finding common ground between opposing sides. There is also growing criticism of the “technocracy” of both parties — their dependence on corporations and the perceived detachment of politics from real life. Voters are searching for an anti-establishment, yet non-extremist alternative.
In addition, the United States continues to face mounting economic problems. Instead of addressing them, representatives of the current political system tend to resort to populism. Younger generations are struggling with high housing costs, student debt, inflation, and a sense that neither party offers an adequate response. This fuels demand for a new political force with fresh approaches.
At the same time, Elon Musk, with his substantial personal wealth and ownership of X (formerly Twitter) — the most popular social media platform among Americans — clearly has the means to influence public opinion, which he has already begun to use to some extent.
At present, the America Party is not yet officially registered and therefore has no clearly defined ideology or platform. However, it can be assumed that, at least in the early stages, it will be a personal vehicle for Elon Musk to promote his own ideas — ideas that have already undergone significant transformations more than once. The entrepreneur has statedthat the party will focus on reducing the budget deficit and will adopt an economically conservative ideology. In recent years, Musk has also leaned toward social conservatism, being, in the words of of The Atlantic, “deeply committed to the right’s culture war against progressivism in most forms.” Such ideas — and the image of the leader — are undoubtedly appealing to a segment of American society (considering the demand for politicians like current U.S. President Donald Trump). However, Musk’s penchant for provocation could harm the new party, as his political activism appears to be personally motivated rather than ideologically driven. It is also important to note that Musk is not a natural-born U.S. citizen, which makes him ineligible to run for the presidency (a presidential campaign could have increased the visibility of his party in the long term). Nevertheless, he can still run for a seat in the House of Representatives or the Senate. In addition, recent polls do not yet indicate widespread support for Musk’s initiative among the general electorate. A CNN poll published on July 17 showed that the vast majority of both adults (74%) and voters overall (77%) oppose the America Party, and that only 17% of voters would even consider joining it. CNN compared these results to the ratings of the aforementioned Ross Perot, noting that, unlike Musk, more than 50% of Americans supported his creation of the Reform Party, while only 37% of voters opposed it.
Nevertheless, Musk has already managed to gain support from certain public figures in the United States. For example, Mark Cuban, an entrepreneur and billionaire, endorsed the idea of the America Party, calling calling Musk’s strategy “very smart” during the Pod Save America podcast on July 13, 2025, and expressing his willingness to help build party infrastructure in the states. Andrew Yang, founder of the Forward Party, commented on the possibility of cooperation with Musk and likewise supported the idea of a third party as a chance to challenge the current monopoly on power.
The Libertarian Party of the United States has also been actively promoting Musk on his own social media platform, X, urging him to join the libertarians due to their “shared interest in fiscal responsibility” and “concern over the U.S. budget deficit.” This party has the broadest access to election ballots among smaller U.S. parties and regularly fields candidates for offices at all levels of government. Following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Musk may also count on support from Republican members of Congress who voted against the legislation.
Thus, while Elon Musk’s political platform elicits mixed reactions among potential voters, it clearly has room for growth.
As of today, the electoral prospects of Elon Musk’s America Party are difficult to assess definitively, but the very fact of his conflict with Donald Trump may indicate the beginning of political turbulence in the United States. One also cannot completely rule out the possibility that Musk is engaging in political blackmail of the White House (or even revenge), since the emergence of a new party with similar rhetoric could significantly damage the Republican Party by siphoning off votes in favor of the Democrats as early as the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.
A positive aspect for Ukraine in this context is that both Trump and Musk, after ending their cooperation, have scaled back their rhetoric hostile toward our country, focusing instead on domestic politics. However, the promotion in American society of budget-spending views currently advocated by Musk and a number of far-right members of the U.S. Republican Party could undermine the United States’ ability to project military power, as well as its economic and political interests abroad, and could ultimately put a definitive end to direct military, technical, and economic support for Ukraine from the White House.
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