Mark Cuban, billionaire and star of Shark Tank, stirred the pot on social media recently by conducting an informal poll about the personas of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. With the 2024 election approaching, Trump is gearing up to face Harris, who became the Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden exited the race.
As various polls show a tight competition between the two, Cuban, known for his critiques of Trump, decided to share his thoughts on X (formerly Twitter). He asked his followers, “Who’s persona and character would you like to see young children grow up to have?” The results were striking, with Trump receiving 68.9% of the votes compared to Harris’s 31.1%, from a total of 804,173 participants.
Who’s persona and character would you like to see young children grow up to have:
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) August 31, 2024
After the results rolled in, Cuban questioned the engagement metrics related to his poll, tagging Elon Musk for clarification. Cuban pointed out the discrepancy between the number of votes (804k) and the recorded engagements (656k).
Cuban shared a conversation he had with Grok, an AI chatbot that Musk introduced on the platform, asking whether responding to a poll counts as engagement. Grok confirmed that it does count: “Engagement on X includes various interactions such as likes, retweets, comments and importantly, responses to polls.”
Since acquiring X, Musk has made a series of polarizing changes, including staff reductions, temporary suspensions of journalists, and the reinstatement of previously banned accounts. Along with these adjustments, he’s promoted Grok as a tool for premium subscribers to engage in casual conversation.
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However, Grok has faced backlash, with five secretaries of state recently urging Musk to address misinformation being spread by the chatbot. They reported that Grok shared incorrect information about ballot deadlines, prompting concerns about voter misinformation as the election looms.
The officials, representing states including Michigan and Minnesota, highlighted the issue in a letter to Musk, stressing the need for accurate voting information on the platform, especially with millions of voters seeking guidance during this critical election year.