Twitter users narrowly support reinstating Trump in Elon Musk’s poll

Donald Trump found a popular vote he can win.

Elon Musk asked Twitter users if the former president should be reinstated on the platform, and as of Saturday afternoon they were voting 52% to 48% in favor.

Musk created a basic Twitter poll Friday night, offering “yes” and “no” options to a simple premise: “Reinstate former President Trump.”

“Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk, 51, wrote beneath the poll, using a Latin phrase that translates to “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”

Slightly more than 13.6 million people had voted in the poll by 4 p.m. Saturday, three hours before it closed.

Trump was banned from Twitter — previously his favorite spot to air grievances — after he inspired the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Twitter cited the “the risk of further incitement of violence” when it blocked Trump on Jan. 8, 2021.

At the time, he had 88 million followers on the platform. He received about 74 million votes in the 2020 presidential election, which he lost but says he won.

Musk, who has owned Twitter since October, said last spring that he intended to pave the way for Trump’s return after the completion of the purchase. He bought the social media platform for $44 billion with a pledge to scale back content moderation while emphasizing freedom of speech.

On Friday, the Tesla tycoon said that the conservative Canadian podcaster Jordan Peterson and the right-wing satire website Babylon Bee, both previously banned from the platform, would have their accounts restored. Musk added that Kathy Griffin, a comedian who was suspended earlier this month for impersonating Musk, would also be allowed to return.

The announcements came in a tweet in which Musk tried to clarify the platform’s content moderation policies under his leadership.

“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach,” Musk said in the tweet. “Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter.”

In 23 days leading Twitter, Musk has brought sweeping changes, starting with the staff. Earlier this month, Musk laid off about 50% of Twitter’s workforce of 7,500. And hundreds more employees made their departure this week, after Musk demanded they be “extremely hardcore” and commit to working long hours.