How Do People Really Feel About the DeSantis-Disney Feud? New Poll Reveals the Answer

The feud between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney continues in the form of various lawsuits, actions taken by the legislature, and more.

But how do people really feel about the situation? Who do they think is in the “wrong” or in the “right”? A new poll has revealed some of the answers.

Not long ago, we took a look at a survey from YouGov regarding the Disney vs. DeSantis conflict. That poll showed that 39% of U.S. adults felt Disney’s actions in criticizing the Florida Parental Rights in Education bill were appropriate, while 42% felt it was inappropriate. In terms of DeSantis’ response and taking control of the board of the District that controls the land on which Disney operates, 38% felt it was appropriate while 40% felt it was inappropriate.

But now a new poll on similar topics has been revealed — what do these respondents feel? Does it line up? Let’s take a look.

The new poll comes from the FAU Mainstreet Research Political Communication and Public Opinion Research Lab. According to the report, these results are based on a survey that was conducted from June 27th to July 1st, 2023 from a sample of 933 adults living in Florida.

One of the questions in the poll specifically asked was “In the ongoing dispute between Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney, which side do you support more?”

Overall, about 35% of respondents said that they strongly supported DeSantis. Just slightly fewer folks — 33% — said they strongly supported Disney. So it seems like there is a close split there.

Around 12% said they somewhat supported DeSantis and 10% said they somewhat supported Disney, while 9% were unsure or had no opinion.

When we take a look at gender, it seems of those who strongly supported DeSantis, 42.7% identified as male. On the strongly support Disney side, things looked a little different with 30.1% identifying as male, 35.9% identifying as female, and 37.3% identifying as non-binary.

What about age? Well of those who strongly supported DeSantis, the largest amount of supporters seemed to come from those ages 50-64 (39.7%) and those 65+ (39.7%). For those who strongly supported Disney, the largest percentage was 65+ (37.1%) followed by 50-64 (35.7%) — so interestingly not a huge difference there.

What about party divisions? Well of those who strongly supported DeSantis, around 64.3% were Republicans, while 7.8% were Democrats and 27.8% were Independents. On the other side — in terms of strongly supporting Disney — it looks like 62% were Democrat, 7.5% were Republican, and 30% were Independent. That’s a slightly higher number in the Independent category for those who strongly support Disney, but only by a tiny bit.

Overall, this seemed to line up generally with the previous poll we saw, where the split between Democrats and Republicans was pretty large in terms of the viewpoints on whether Disney was in the right to criticize the Florida law and whether DeSantis was in the right to take control of the District board.

Also, it’s interesting to note that in that prior poll, about 47% of Independents felt that Disney’s actions in criticizing the Florida law were inappropriate…

…while they were split on whether DeSantis’ actions in terms of taking control of the District Board were appropriate (37% saying appropriate, 38% saying inappropriate). In this new poll, it seems slightly more Independent voters strongly support Disney overall but again it’s not by a big margin.

We’re continuing to look for more updates on the DeSantis x Disney situation, particularly as the new Board continues to take actions that could impact the District, the lawsuits continue to move forward, and other updates are shared.

Stay tuned for more news.

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