Florida poll: Florida voters deeply divided over DeSantis vs. Disney battle
Florida voters are evenly split in their assessment of the epic culture war between Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney.
A Florida Atlantic University/Mainstreet Research/PolCom Lab poll released Monday shows 47% of Florida voters strongly support DeSantis and 43% strongly or somewhat support Disney.
With the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, that’s effectively a tie.
The feelings on both sides of the issue are especially intense, with 35% of those polled saying they strongly support DeSantis and 33% saying they strongly support Disney.
There aren’t many Florida voters with undefined or murky views on the conflict: 12% somewhat supported DeSantis and 10% somewhat supported Disney.
Partisan split
The FAU/Mainstreet/PolCom Lab poll found an enormous split depending on respondents’ political affiliation.
- Republicans overwhelmingly — 81% — side with the governor. And strong support for DeSantis is 64% among Republicans.
- Democrats overwhelmingly — 76% — support Disney. Strong support for Disney is 62% among Democrats.
- Independent voters are tied, with 42% supporting DeSAntis and 42% supporting Disney.
A higher share of independent voters (16%) didn’t know or had no opinion, than Democrats (9%) or Republicans 7%.
Gender split
There was a divide along gender lines, with men significantly more likely to support DeSantis than women. And among those who support DeSantis, men were much more likely than women to strongly support the governor’s position.
- Men: 54% support DeSantis (including 43% strongly support). Disney had support from 40% of men (30% strong support).
- Women: 41% support DeSantis (including 28% strongly support). Disney had support from 45% of women (36% strong support).
New issue
Just 9% of those surveyed had no opinion on Disney vs. DeSantis, a question no one thought about 16 months ago because it didn’t exist. Since then it has received massive attention, escalated at times by both sides.
It started in 2022 when the Walt Disney Co. said it hoped Florida would reverse legislation that limits classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. DeSantis responded by calling Disney — which is the state’s largest private employer and an enormous generator of income for Floridians and tax revenue for the state — a “woke” corporation.
He then had Republicans in the state Legislature pass measures to end what he considered “special privileges” the company used to help it begin and expand over the decades in the state.
When former Disney CEO Bob Iger returned to helm the company early this year, it took a more public stand countering DeSantis. The Legislature expanded the law on sexual orientation and gender in schools this year.
DeSantis has embraced the fight, and uses it as part of his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, asserting on the campaign trail that the company “sexualizes children.”
Fine print
The poll was conducted June 27 to July 1 by Mainstreet Research for Florida Atlantic University’s PolCom Lab, which is a collaboration of the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies and Department of Political Science.
The survey used automated telephone interviews with 933 Florida voters. The 3 percent margin of error is higher for subgroups (such as Democrats and Republians or men and women) because the numbers of people surveyed are smaller than in the overall poll.
This report will be updated with additional results.
This report includes information from Sun Sentinel archives.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com, on Twitter @browardpolitics and on Post.news/@browardpolitics.