News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

[LittleBuford]

That's what I said

Minus my waffling!

 

[James Alucobond]

I agree the question sets the respondent up to look sympathetically on DeSantis and suspiciously on Disney. I don’t think this is intentional—one could argue that the wording is all literally true, even if misleading—but it’s unfortunate and concerning nonetheless.

If it's not intentional, it's at least incompetent. It ties a lot of disparate issues together in a single question. It asks if you support DeSantis' actions, but it does not specify which actions. For instance, one might support the legislation on discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity without necessarily understanding or agreeing with the rest of the statement, but because it's the last thing mentioned before the question of support/oppose, it could very easily be the part that respondents tie their answer to.

 

[Vacationeer]

Here is the question asked by this particular poll:

ESG5 Florida governor Ron DeSantis has tried to limit Disney's autonomy in Florida by appointing an oversight board and threatening to remove its special tax status. DeSantis' actions are widely considered a response to Disney's opposition to the legislation that DeSantis signed in 2022 that prohibited elementary school classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. Do you support or oppose DeSantis' actions?​

Topline – April

harvardharrispoll.com

Wow that was a very long survey. I found the pages in the 50s interesting. And pg55 is interesting… out of all the names and groups, Amazon came out on top for being favorable


Disney does not come up until page 182 out of 206.

 

[Brian]

From Newsweek:

Democrats' 'Surprising' Support of Ron DeSantis in Disney Feud

In a nutshell:

"According to the poll, a majority of Democrats said that they opposed DeSantis's position, but 42 percent said they supported it. Overall, the poll found 56 percent of respondents saying they supported DeSantis on this issue and 44 percent disagreed."

I came here to post this poll, but I see it has already been dismissed by most out of hand. Meanwhile internal polling Len Testa cited showing DeSantis/legislature are not polling well was not questioned. I mean zero offense to Len, and my intention is not to cast doubt on his information; just pointing out the discrepancy in the reaction to the two differing polls by most.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I came here to post this poll, but I see it has already been dismissed by most out of hand. Meanwhile internal polling Len Testa cited showing DeSantis/legislature are not polling well was not questioned. I mean zero offense to Len, and my intention is not to cast doubt on his information; just pointing out the discrepancy in the reaction to the two differing polls by most.

View attachment 711777

One is something that can be seen and discussed. The other is not.

 

[James Alucobond]

I came here to post this poll, but I see it has already been dismissed by most out of hand. Meanwhile internal polling Len Testa cited showing DeSantis/legislature are not polling well was not questioned. I mean zero offense to Len, and my intention is not to cast doubt on his information; just pointing out the discrepancy in the reaction to the two differing polls by most.

View attachment 711777

Again, it ties together too many issues. I don't doubt that many people support many things DeSantis does, but you can't throw three things DeSantis did into one question and then give a binary support/oppose response.

 

[GoofGoof]

From Newsweek:

Democrats' 'Surprising' Support of Ron DeSantis in Disney Feud

In a nutshell:

"According to the poll, a majority of Democrats said that they opposed DeSantis's position, but 42 percent said they supported it. Overall, the poll found 56 percent of respondents saying they supported DeSantis on this issue and 44 percent disagreed."

It’s all in how you word a poll:

The poll, conducted by Harvard CAPS-Harris, asked respondents how they felt about DeSantis appointing a special oversight board that will oversee the Disney district and removes its self-governing status.

The results make perfect sense based on the wording. Most people have little actual information about the situation. The headlines they may have seen talk of DeSantis wanting to close a tax loophole and make sure Disney pays its fair share of taxes. We all know that’s not remotely true, but if someone just reads the headlines and they definitely do not. Most people don’t like corporations getting tax breaks and if you combine those headlines with the wording of the poll question it’s not hard to understand the results.

This is probably the reason that Disney has upped their PR game too with websites and I’m sure we will see more news stories now that are prompted by Disney. They are trying to get the truth out there on taxes and on their contribution to the state and also what the district was, why it was created and how it actually worked. All stuff the average American doesn‘t know.

Anyone seeing this and thinking that it means people actually support DeSantis are kidding themselves.

 

[GoofGoof]

Are you suggesting the majority of adults in America want the government to retaliate against businesses for standing up for the rights of their employees!?

I certainly hope not.

No they definitely do not. I imagine if the poll was worded to say “do you support Governor DeSantis seizing control of a local government entity to punish Disney for speaking out against a bill he supported” the yes voted would be about very small. It’s all in how you word a question. The poll question actually asked was definitely skewed.

IMHO you just ask the question without color to get true feedback. Do you support Governor DeSantis’s actions in his feud with Disney. Yes or no. Asking it the way I proposed above is going to get skewed responses. So did the poll conducted which was slanted the other way.

 

[GoofGoof]

I’m not sure why these results are viewed as “surprising.“ They’re in line with his re-election results, which happened after he picked this very visible fight with Disney and signaled his intention to do away with RCID.

I thought it was a national poll. Was it just FL voters polled?

 

[Chi84]

Is the district able to levy fines? I’m thinking back to how they could enforce Covid rules they’re making up. I feel like only bay lake and lake Buena vista can issue bylaws and fines?

The Enforcement and Penalties section is Section 67 on pp. 72-73 of the RCID (now CFTOD) charter. It contains standard language providing for "recourse to such remedies in law and equity as may be necessary to ensure compliance" with the provisions of the Act or regulations "made under authority conferred by this Act or under law ***."

It provides for injunctive relief and states persons found violating the Act commit a misdemeanor, with every day of non-compliance constituting a separate violation.

The key here is whether the board has authority under the Act to prohibit business owners in the special district from adopting health measures for their own premises.

I haven't found this authority in the charter, but I'm no expert in this area, so others may know more.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The actual poll, with exact verbiage.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The poll does not have to indicate support for DeSantis.

It does though. The language was literally "do you support or oppose DeSantis' actions?"

 

[GoofGoof]

The poll does not have to indicate support for DeSantis.

The surprising Democratic results might simply reflect the long-held belief among traditional Democrats that large corporations should be heavy regulated by the government.

A core Democrat value used to be strong government oversight of large corporations.

I don’t disagree. If you asked most Democrats do you support a governor who is shutting down a tax loophole that a large corporation uses to avoid paying their fair share of taxes the answer will be heavily skewed towards yes. We all know this situation has nothing to do with taxes. Why not add in a sentence that says “despite the political spin out research shows Disney actually pays more in taxes as the result of this arrangement? I bet the answer changes dramatically.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I don’t disagree. If you asked most Democrats do you support a governor who is shutting down a tax loophole that a large corporation uses to avoid paying their fair share of taxes the answer will be heavily skewed towards yes. We all know this situation has nothing to do with taxes. Why not add in a sentence that says “despite the political spin out research shows Disney actually pays more in taxes as the result of this arrangement? I bet the answer changes dramatically.

The autonomy is the issue, not the size of the tax bill.

And the poll even points out that the action was retaliation for Disney opining on the Parental Rights bill. So I don't think you can make the case that the question language is biased in favor of DeSantis.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

People responding to the poll don't know special tax status means Disney pays MORE in taxes..

Yep

 

[GoofGoof]

The autonomy is the issue, not the size of the tax bill.

And the poll even points out that the action was retaliation for Disney opining on the Parental Rights bill. So I don't think you can make the case that the question language is biased in favor of DeSantis.

Why add commentary at all unless your goal is to get a certain response? Wouldn’t a more fair question simply be “do you support Governor DeSantis in his feud with Disney. Yes, no or I am unaware of the dispute“.

 

[AEfx]

The surprising Democratic results might simply reflect the long-held belief among traditional Democrats that large corporations should be heavy regulated by the government.

A core Democrat value used to be strong government oversight of large corporations.

Thank you - I honestly was starting to think I had changed universes or something, because in this discussion no one seems willing to acknowledge this. I keep seeing people point out the also valid observation that the conservatives are seemingly going against their traditional beliefs in regard to corporations, but refusing to acknowledge how very strange it is for those who consider themselves to be liberal are suddenly all about corporate rights and cheering on Disney having a stronghold on local government.

The idea that RCID should be looked at, and the benefits and detriments of it, was not simply invented by DeSantis. He is using it opportunistically, but even on this board it has been discussed for years and it was going to happen some day (and there wasn't this near-universal support as you see here of Disney having as much autonomy as possible now that it is a political issue).

That's what makes this discussion difficult to follow, because people on both ends are on the side they are because of external political reasons, not the actual merits of "should Disney have so much power over the local government".

 

[Chi84]

I guess the poll matters to the extent that it might encourage the governor to continue. At this point, I think it's become a legal issue between the state and RCID. I hope things haven't gotten to the point where our legal rights depend on how people answer polls.

 

[James Alucobond]

The autonomy is the issue, not the size of the tax bill.

And the poll even points out that the action was retaliation for Disney opining on the Parental Rights bill. So I don't think you can make the case that the question language is biased in favor of DeSantis.

His actions with regard to autonomy are tied to many things about which people might have different opinions. For example, do you support or oppose DeSantis:

• standing up to Disney over the parental rights legislation?
• questioning the value of Disney’s special district?
• retaliating against Disney while ignoring the competition?
• appointing a board that reports solely to him?
• removing all Disney representation from the board?
• threatening to use district lands in ways that would punish residents?

You might have different opinions on each of these, but they’re all bound up in the question.

 

[AEfx]

Why add commentary at all unless your goal is to get a certain response? Wouldn’t a more fair question simply be “do you support Governor DeSantis in his feud with Disney. Yes, no or I am unaware of the dispute“.

No, that would be a social-media level baiting question.

I don't know how that poll question could have been more non-partisan. I was actually very impressed by that - it felt very "old school" - before everyone was asking pithy questions using buzz-words like "feud" which automatically expects people to take sides before they even know the basic details.

That said, I think what that poll reflects is what I have mentioned here previously - Disney does not have a lot of fans out there, aside from, well, fans. There are a lot of groups across the political and social spectrum that do not like Disney for reasons as varied as conservatives thinking it's content is too progressive, to progressives thinking that Disney is too traditional in it's "Princess" ideals (no matter what their color) and teaches kids bad lessons about "your Prince may come". And everything in between - general anti-corporate media conglomerate, the rest of Hollywood who laments about the "Marvel" take-over of cinema, heck, even the term "Disneyfied" is a pejorative for crass commercialism.

That's why, even though this seems like this big daily drama here (and some media outlets really are trying to make it one), this just isn't a massive issue to begin with, and not one that's going to predispose people to feeling sympathy for a corporation outside of those on both sides who are largely siding because of politics, not belief.