New Poll Spells Major Problem Among Republicans Over DeSantis and His War on Disney
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) ongoing battle against the Walt Disney Company may come with a political price down the road, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
The poll conducted early this week found that while DeSantis’s battle against Disney, which resulted in the company suing him in federal court on Wednesday, has boosted his favorability rating among Republican voters – a majority of GOP voters are also opposed to the concept of government punishing a company for a political stance.
“Forty-four percent of Republican respondents in the two-day poll ended Tuesday said they had a more favorable view of DeSantis because of the fight with Disney, which led him to sign a retaliatory law in February that aims to strip the company of its self-governing authority at its Orlando-area parks,” reported Reuters on Wednesday.
The poll’s summary also noted, however, that should DeSantis become the Republican nominee for president the topic may become a thorn in his side in terms of winning over Independents:
Seventy-three percent of respondents – including 82% of Democrats and 63% of Republicans – said they were less likely to support a political candidate who backs laws designed to punish a company for its political or cultural stances.
While that finding may alter significantly once candidates’ names are mentioned, given the polarization of today’s politics, the fact that a near two-thirds of Republicans oppose the idea on principle is notable.
Disney, no doubt, hopes to frame its fight against DeSantis in more general terms. The company’s lawsuit on Wednesday called DeSantis’s moves to strip its self-governing status “a targeted campaign of government retaliation.”
“The company is left with no choice but to file this lawsuit to protect its cast members, guests, and local development partners from a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials,” the company said in its lawsuit.
DeSantis, on the other hand, is seeking to frame the battle around Disney’s unique status in his state. DeSantis’s office released a statement in response to Disney’s lawsuit, saying, “We are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state. This lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law.”
Reuters also polled on this framing of the issue and found that a similar two-thirds majority of Republicans support DeSantis stripping Disney of its unique status:
DeSantis has argued that his actions against Disney were rightfully rolling back special treatment for the company. Some 64% of Republicans in the Reuters/Ipsos poll agreed, with 37% of them siding with the vast majority of Democrats, who said DeSantis was punishing Disney for exercising free speech. Independents also leaned toward viewing DeSantis’ actions as punitive.
Notably, Disney’s control over its massive 25,000-acre resort complex and its special tax district regulations has meant that the company pays for all of the services the government would usually pay for. Ending Disney’s special tax district would leave Florida taxpayers on the hook not only for providing services, but local counties — as reported by Mediaite’s Sarah Rumfp — would be on the hook for the district’s billion-dollar bond debt.
The poll was conducted on Monday and Tuesday among 1,005 U.S. adults, broken down into 450 self-identified Democrats and 366 Republicans and carries a margin of error of 4 points.
