Do Republicans hate Disney?

When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently ramped up his fight with Disney, several top Republicans spoke against him.

Former President Donald Trump, DeSantis’ top competition in the 2024 presidential election, posted on Truth Social last month, saying that the Florida governor “is being absolutely destroyed by Disney,” which, he added, might announce “a slow withdrawal or sale of certain properties.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, who has been working with President Joie Biden for months to strike a deal on the debt ceiling, also had some advice for DeSantis — “sit down and negotiate,” as he told CNBC. Meanwhile, Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is also running in 2024, invited Disney, and their “billions of dollars,” to her state.

But there are others like U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr who support DeSantis’ efforts. As Barr said at CNBC CEO Council Summit, “For me, what is important here is that Disney was getting special privileges,” adding that the company should be “treated like everyone else.”

Many Republican Americans also don’t think positively of the company and even support the fight DeSantis has taken on.

What do Americans think about Disney?

An Axios Harris Poll, that ranks the reputations of different corporations using the framework Harris established in 1999, found that Disney ranked as the fifth most polarizing brand out of 100 others.

The poll measured the trust, character and trajectory of the Mickey Mouse company, as perceived by Democrats and Republicans.

While this score jumped by 7.8 to 80.3 for Democrats, the same score sunk from 75 to 61 for Republicans. For Disney, the average gap between Democrats and Republicans was 19.3, compared to the survey’s overall average of 4.4.

A partisan trend emerged this year, even though the company’s reputation score has been going down since 2017, as Axios noted.

The company has been making changes that have earned scorn from right-leaning voters and politicians.

As The New York Times reported, Disney reworked the theme of the Splash Mountain ride because of its association with the 1946 film “Song of the South” and no longer let cast members greet visitors by saying “ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.” The staff now say “dreamers of all ages.”

What happened between Disney and DeSantis?

DeSantis’ battle with Disney began in March 2022, when CEO Bob Chapek spoke out against Florida’a Parental Rights in Education bill, also referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

The law created friction between the governor and Disney. In April 2022, DeSantis asked state lawmakers to reconsider the law that allows Disney to operate a private government with control over its properties in Florida, per The Los Angeles Times.

In a span of mere days, the governor signed a bill to dissolve Disney’s self-government, that is set to go into effect on June 1, 2023.

“You’re a corporation based in Burbank, California, and you’re gonna marshal your economic might to attack the parents of my state,” DeSantis said at the time of the signing of the bill. “We view that as a provocation, and we’re going to fight back against that.”

DeSantis could now pick who sits on the five-member board overseeing Disney properties while Disney kept its special tax district status, which holds it responsible for local government spending by taxing landowners.

But before the DeSantis-approved board could step in, the Disney-elected members negotiated a contract with Disney that leaves DeSantis’ new board effectively powerless beyond maintaining roads and basic infrastructure, as the Deseret News reported.

In April this year, Disney took the fight to court. The company alleged in a 77-page lawsuit, that the DeSantis administration launched a “targeted campaign of government retaliation,” which, they said, threatens free speech as well as the company’s business operations and its economic future.

“There is no room for disagreement about what happened here: Disney expressed its opinion on state legislation and was then punished by the state for doing so,” the lawsuit stated.

DeSantis’ handpicked board retaliated in court by suing Disney while seeking to keep control of the district’s design and construction, as The Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, the governor requested to disqualify the judge who is overseeing the free speech case brought by Disney.

Is picking a fight with Disney a good idea for DeSantis?

Although the dispute is now up to the courts, DeSantis has benefitted from the controversy on the campaign trail, adding it to his fight against “woke ideology.”

A poll from Harvard-Harris conducted last month found that nearly half of registered voters — and 73% of Republican voters — support DeSantis’ attempts to limit Disney’s autonomy.

Disney appears progressive, with its diverse casts and storylines, “But you’ve often had Democrats and progressives attacking Disney for not being progressive enough as an employer, not treating their workers well, or at least as well as they should and not doing enough,” Aubrey Jewett, professor of political science at the University of Central Florida, told The Guardian.

“And they also criticize Disney for having its own government, they see it as another example of corporate power,” Jewett added.

But seeing Republicans like Trump and McCarthy speak out against DeSantis, Jewett said she thinks that in the general election, many people may not agree with his stance, especially since many GOP leaders oppose DeSantis’ ambitious plans against Disney.

Whether that is the case or not, the dispute between DeSantis, a strong 2024 candidate, and Disney, one of the most successful entertainment giants in the world, continues to take center stage.