Elon Musk is running a Twitter poll on whether he should reinstate former President Donald Trump to the platform, with early results showing slightly half of participants voting “yes.”
“Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” tweeted Musk, mere minutes after posting the poll at 7:47 p.m. Friday. The Latin phrase means “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” The poll was set to remain open for 24 hours.
With poll time more than halfway expired Saturday, over 12.5 million votes had been cast as of 1 p.m. Musk’s followers favoring to reinstate Trump held a slight advantage over the anti-Trump crowd, 52% to 48%.
Around 4 a.m. Saturday, Musk bragged in another tweet: “Trump poll getting ~1M votes/hour!”
After pro-Trump support surged to an early lead Friday night, Becker News CEO and former Fox News associate producer Kyle Becker tweeted, “Dems are going to need to stop the count so they can haul in some mail-in votes.”
Musk posted his poll hours after he punted on a decision to reinstate Trump to Twitter yet announced lifting bans on three other suspended accounts.
“Trump decision has not yet been made,” Musk tweeted on Friday.
The tech mogul did reveal the reinstatement of satirical news site the Babylon Bee, controversial author Jordan Peterson and firebrand comedian Kathy Griffin.
Musk, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion, has long pledged to reinstate Trump, who has been banned from the app since the US Capitol Riot of Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump, for his part, has vowed to stay on Truth Social, the social media app that he founded after he was kicked off mainstream platforms following the Capitol riot.
Large brands that advertise on Twitter have reportedly threatened to sever ties with the site if Musk reinstates Trump.