26,000 People Voted on the Most Trusted Brands in NEW Survey. Did Disney's Reputation Improve Since 2023?

A ranking of popular American companies has Disney on a slight upswing for the first time in a WHILE.

Disneyland

Each year, Axios teams with Harris Poll to “gauge the reputation of the most visible brands in America, based on 20 years of Harris Poll research.” The results are accumulated through three surveys of Americans — totaling approximately 26,000 people — throughout the first five months of the year. Over the last several years, Disney’s position has been slightly precarious. Has that changed?

There was a time when Disney was one of the most trusted brands in the Axios Harris Poll. As recently as 2021, the company ranked 37th out of 100 companies on the list. However, controversies in recent years, including political battles with Ron DeSantis, the CEO carousel with Bob Iger and Bob Chapek, dissatisfaction amongst fans with some theme park projects, and diminishing returns from certain Marvel properties, have seemingly led to a stark drop.

©Disney

In the 2022 poll, Disney fell from that aforementioned 37th ranking all the way to 65! This drop of 28 spots was one of the largest in Axios Harris history. The following year, Disney’s fall continued, albeit at a much slower rate. The 2023 Axios Harris Poll saw the company drop an additional 12 spots to number 77.

So, was Disney able to rebound in the 2024 Axios Harris Poll? Well, kind of?

The good news is that the company’s overall ranking increased by ten slots, bringing it up to number 67 on the list, just below eBay, Pfizer, and Kohl’s and just above OpenAI, Volkswagen, and Wendy’s in the “Good” category. For comparative reference, the companies that topped the list included Nvidia in the top spot and Adidas, Honda, Apple, and Samsung.

The 2024 Axios Top 10

While a double-digit increase is a step in the right direction, it goes to show how far Disney has fallen in the eyes of the poll’s metrics. That ten-spot climb only brought it to two BELOW the at-one-time unthinkably low 2022 number, and it is still 30 slots below where it was as recently as 2021.

Disney’s 2024 Ranking

In looking at Disney’s individual category scores, it becomes easier to see what issues the (relatively small) amount of Americans polled had with the company. They had a high score in Products & Services, for example, ranking them in the Top 50 in that category. However, the scores for Trust, Culture, Ethics, and Citizenship were all quite low — each score put Disney in the 70s of their respective category — showing that the political battles involving the company are still affecting the way some view Disney.

Disney’s 2024 Axios Scores

Disney did see an overall jump in the 2024 Axios Harris Poll, but the gain was somewhat negligible in comparison to where the company was on the list in 2021 and how far it’s “fallen” — in the eyes of this specific poll’s metrics — since. Stay tuned to AllEars for further Disney business news.