The Walt Disney Company's reputation took a dive among Americans, according to this year's Axios Harris Poll 100, which showed the corporation has dropped by a dozen spots after its ongoing battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill and students' LGBTQ+ rights.
Democrats approved of Disney's stance, but the company's reputation took a hit among Republicans, dragging down its overall reputation score, reports Axios.
As a result, the poll ranked Disney as its fifth-most polarizing brand out of 100 considered in this year's survey.
Disney's "Reputational Quotient" (RQ) overall was 70.9 out of 100, down from 73.4 in 2022. The score shows measurements that go across several areas touching on trajectory, character and trust.
The score climbed from 72.5 to 80.3 among Democrats, but dropped from 75 to 61 with Republicans, meaning an average RQ gap of 19.3.
Disney's score has been declining since a similar survey in 2017, but the decline until now had been among members of both parties.
Meanwhile, when respondents were asked how they feel about Disney now, compared to a year ago:
- 44% of Democrats and 21% of Republicans said they feel more positive about Disney.
- 42% of Republicans said their feelings grew more negative over the past year, compared with 12% of Democrats.
- 35% of Republicans and 19% of Democrats said Disney has become more divisive and less authentic.
- 63% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans describe Disney as family-oriented.
After Disney opposed the bill, DeSantis fought back against the company with measures that included a push for the state to take control of the company's self-governing district. He's also threatened to build a prison or even a competing theme park near the company's Florida location.
Disney last week canceled its plans to build a nearly $1 billion employee campus in Orlando.
In the poll, 6.2 points in people's perceptions of future growth, 4.3 points on citizenship ["shares my values" and "supports good causes"], and 2.9 points on its ethics.
"When you divide audiences, you're ultimately going to be subtracting customers for your business," Harris Poll CEO John Gerzema said. "The lesson here is that when you divide you subtract."
Another problem for Disney is that it did not have a track record for speaking out on issues like other brands do, and it flip-flopped after coming late to the discussion, Gerzema said.
Disney, through a spokesperson, declined to comment.
Overall, the top 10 most politically polarized companies in the survey were:
- Trump Organization
- Fox Corporation
- Hobby Lobby
- FTX
- The Walt Disney Co.
- Pfizer
- Facebook (Meta)
- TikTok
- Twitter
- Chick-fil-A
- John Deere, Hobby Lobby, and Chick-fil-A topped Republicans' top five performers list.
- Trader Joe's, USAA, Honda Motor Co., and Apple were among Democrats' top five performing brands.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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