Polling Favors Disney Over DeSantis
We’ve spoken a lot about Disney’s feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis because it impacts Disney fans the most.
However, the governor’s recent words and actions have come with a different intent: generating national headlines for a presidential campaign.
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For this reason, national polling services have taken an interest in the weirdest feud in America today. And the early polls favor Disney over DeSantis.
Here’s what America thinks about the Florida Feud.
About the Polling
Yahoo! News and YouGov just worked together on a joint venture, a poll regarding public opinion on the recently escalated feud between Disney and DeSantis.
Many of the governor’s recent actions, including an idle threat about building a prison near Walt Disney World, signified blatant attempts to grab headlines.
Photo: http://www.latinpost.com/articles/3407/20131030/american-idol-winners-glee-cast-spoof-disney-villains-jail-video.htm
DeSantis hoped that his bold stance would sway Republican and Independent voters, thereby regaining momentum for his flagging campaign.
Morning Consult published a poll on Tuesday, May 9th that suggested DeSantis has fallen 41 points behind Donald Trump.
In short, DeSantis needs some wins to boost his political capital. The Florida Feud with Disney represents his best hope at the moment.
YouGov frequently polls Americans on the issues of the day. As far as its credibility goes, FiveThirtyEight ranked it 16th out of 33 polling services during the 2022 mid-terms.
So, we can call YouGov moderately accurate and squarely in the middle of polling services. In short, this data should prove reliable (enough).
In publishing the story, Yahoo! ran with the provocative headline “Is DeSantis’s war on ‘woke’ Disney falling flat?”
You shouldn’t read too much into this bit of clickbait, though, as that’s all it is: clickbait.
However, the article itself features real journalism based on polling data. And that’s what matters to us.
What Do the Polls Say?
Polls like this generally ask several questions of a decent sample size of Americans.
In this case, YouGov asked 1,584 adults about many political issues.
Importantly, the polling occurred from May 5th through May 8th, which means Disney had sued DeSantis by this point.
Also, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District had countersued Disney.
Basically, the poll respondents should have known the basics by this point. But did they? Well, no.
Only 34 percent of Americans (!) indicate they’ve learned “a lot” about the dispute. That’s just one out of every three Americans indicating awareness of the Florida Feud.
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DeSantis has apparently banked his political aspirations on a platform that doesn’t resonate with likely voters.
Several data points suggest that’s the case. YouGov questioned the respondents about the term “woke,” which is the governor’s bread-and-butter phrase.
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DeSantis has based his entire attack on Disney as a defense against woke policies/the woke mob…and he may want to re-think that behavior.
According to the YouGov poll, only 41 percent of the voters deem “wokeness” as a “big problem” in society today.
A larger group, 50 percent, worry more about racism in our country.
Realistically, the poll suggests that DeSantis would be better served in prioritizing other topics that matter more to Americans.
This survey suggested that (in order) the more pressing matters are inflation (74 percent), “breaching the debt ceiling” (58 percent), and border security (58 percent).
I could mention more hot-button topics, but you get the point. The overwhelming majority of people surveyed simply don’t care about the Florida Feud.
Other Results Also Favor Disney
The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger probably smiled once he read this data. It almost universally favored Disney, albeit still with some ominous undertones.
Only one subject went against the Mouse. More respondents “think Disney’s actions in criticizing Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law were inappropriate.”
That statement requires a bit of context, though. This poll data was the second-closest of any topic, with a 42-39 response against Disney.
However, the poll’s margin of error is 2.7 percent. Once we factor in rounding on the results, it’s basically a draw.
At worst, voters modestly believe Disney should have stayed quiet. And that’s the strongest opinion against the company in this poll.
Everything else goes against DeSantis and his platform. For example, DeSantis was also underwater in his response to Disney.
Forty percent of respondents disliked his actions, while 38 percent did. Again, this one’s basically a draw. But it gets worse from there.
Only 28 percent of “Americans take DeSantis’s side” on his reaction to Disney’s response to the Don’t Say Gay bill and his subsequent actions.
YouGov summarizes the matter by indicating that “few Americans are really invested in DeSantis’s crusade here.” And it still gets worse again!
According to the polling data, most of the people who have heard about the Florida Feud are MSNBC viewers and others inclined to dislike DeSantis.
The voters he is targeting, the more conservative ones, are substantially less aware of what DeSantis has attempted here, thereby negating all his effort.
Has the Florida Feud Hurt Disney?
This question comes with nuance. For today, I’ll focus exclusively on what the polling data suggests.
YouGov and Yahoo! News were curious whether the Disney brand had taken a hit due to the controversy.
I’ve previously mentioned how Disney is sensitive to concerns in such polling data.
Remarkably, Disney aced this particular test, as YouGov struggled to find any signs of impairment.
According to this poll, 52 percent of Americans favor Disney, while only 34 percent hold a negative perception.
Most of the negative respondents are the ones DeSantis has targeted with his anti-Disney platform.
So, he’s preaching to the choir here rather than claiming new voters.
Still, Disney faces that continued problem I discussed earlier this year. The company holds a “negative standing among potential Republican primary voters.”
Those voters visit theme parks as well, leaving Disney in an uncomfortable but familiar situation.
Most people favor Disney and expect them to win the lawsuit (by a 42-32 margin).
The ones who don’t are decidedly anti-Disney right now, though.
Photo: MickeyBlog
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