The Walt Disney Company’s ongoing feud with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has caused the Mouse House to plummet in a key gauge that measures the reputation of the most visible brands in America.
The Bob Iger-led media giant plunged 12 spots to rank 77th in this year’s Axios and Harris Poll 100, which is based on a survey of 16,310 Americans from a nationally representative sample conducted March 13–28.
The survey ranked Disney as the fifth most polarizing company — a metric that is measured by the gap between the reputational score among Democrats and Republicans.
The company has been engaged in a bare-knuckle battle with DeSantis, who will declare his intention to run for President on Wednesday after it publicly opposed the governor’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” legislation — which sought to limit sex and gender identity education in elementary schools.
DeSantis moved to strip Disney of its semi-autonomous status which confers it wide-ranging authority to levy taxes and shape zoning regulations on the Central Florida land where its resorts and amusement parks are located.
Disney responded by filing a lawsuit accusing the Florida governor and his GOP allies in the state legislature of violating the company’s First Amendment rights.
Disney has also thrust itself into the vortex of the nation’s culture wars by introducing gay, lesbian, transgender, non-binary, and other minority characters into its animated series and films.
The company instituted a slew of eyebrow-raising changes, such as outfitting Minnie Mouse with a blue pantsuit instead of her traditional red and white polka-dot dress.
Disney also announced that it would do away with the seven dwarves characters from its Snow White live-action remake in response to criticism that it was denigrating to those in the dwarfism community.
Earlier this month, a Florida teacher was investigated by the state Department of Education for screening “Strange World,” a Disney movie with an openly gay character.
Pixar, the Disney-owned studio, refused demands by foreign governments to cut scenes from the film “Lightyear” which were said to have promoted homosexuality.
The political spat is reflected in the differing views of Disney held by Democrats and Republicans, according to Axios and Harris Poll.
Disney’s stance on “Don’t Say Gay” earned it praise from Democrats, the survey found.
The company’s “Reputational Quotient” increased among Dems from 72.5 last year to 80.3, according to the poll.
Among GOP supporters, however, the RQ dropped from 75 to 61. The RQ reflects the average score from nine criteria — character, trajectory, trust, culture, ethics, citizenship, vision, growth, and products and services
Overall, Disney’s RQ was measured at 70.9 out of 100 — down from 73.4 in 2022.
While the average RQ gap between Republicans and Democrats was 4.4, Disney’s was a whopping 19.3, according to the Axios and Harris Poll.
Patagonia captured the top spot in the poll, beating out No. 2 Costco.
John Deere, Trader Joe’s, and Chick-fil-A rounded out the top five.
On the other end of the spectrum is The Trump Organization, which had the least sterling reputation among the 16,310 respondents.
FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange which collapsed due to alleged fraud by founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was the second least popular company.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
