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

[GoofGoof]

I agree. It is a poorly worded question that isn’t likely to yield the best results.

Full disclosure: in my student days, I worked part time for a major opinion-poll company. Not all the questions were as clearly or well phrased as they should have been (which was something I had no control over), but our intention was always to gather the most reliable data possible. Contrary to popular opinion, polling companies—legitimate ones at least—have absolutely no interest in skewing the data one way or the other. The businesses and organisations that sponsor such polls are looking for information that is accurate and usable.

Based on the limited back and forth here I suspect it would be very difficult to word this question and get an unbiased answer. If you asked the question without any color as I suggested you would have to add a 3rd option: yes, no, and don’t know since many respondents wouldn’t have enough knowledge to answer yes or no and I suspect that a large number of responses would be in bucket 3. I actually would be curious to see how many people have no real opinion on this.

 

[LittleBuford]

People DO care if an activist teacher tells their daughter that she can turn into a boy if she wants to.

There’s a problem when this sort of exceptional, outlying scenario is presented as a widespread issue that requires sweeping legislation.

 

[Chi84]

There’s a problem when this sort of exceptional, outlying scenario is presented as a widespread issue that requires sweeping legislation.

Even if it was, the law should have been more narrowly drafted.

 

[scottieRoss]

What I am saying though - is if you really read that question - word for word, line by line, I can't find a partisan bit in it. It's almost like a 1970's journalist wrote it. We have become so used to everything politicized in every word we read, I think it may be hard to recognize a truly unbiased question.

there actually is. 'Remove its special tax status' implies that it pays less tax than anyone else does.
Imagine if the question had said 'requiring local county residents to pay for the infrastructure, roadways, utility construction and emergency services that Disney pays for currently through additional taxes paid to the special district'.

 

[GoofGoof]

Just my 2 cents….everyone is free to do what they want to do:

Are we really going back to debating the merits of the original bill that started all of this? 750 pages ago that started and was stopped for good reason. The posts are all going to be deleted anyway. There’s plenty to discuss around RCID itself.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

What I am saying though - is if you really read that question - word for word, line by line, I can't find a partisan bit in it. It's almost like a 1970's journalist wrote it. We have become so used to everything politicized in every word we read, I think it may be hard to recognize a truly unbiased question.

People really do hear what they want to hear. The question isn't unbiased in the slightest, it completely misrepresents what is happening.

It repeats the misleading talking point about Disney's "special tax status" that anyone who has read up on this in the slightest can tell you results in Disney paying MORE taxes. The question implies removing a special advantage. Of course people think it sounds reasonable. They're ignorant of the reality.

Likewise with the term "oversight board" which could suggest a reasonable government entity making sure Disney adheres to various rules, safety guidelines, and so on. Again completely disregarding the fact that the goal of the board was to influence Disney's content and punish them, and has little to nothing to do with how the theme parks and infrastructure are run.

 

[lazyboy97o]

RCID was unique, and I agree, it needed to go.

Why did it need to go?

 

[afterabme]

How much money does Disney spend in Florida on film production and would HB7073 (filed yesterday) mess with them? Has to do with eliminating tax exemptions in the film industry.

Not much. Most spending is related to the Parks & Resorts with some small amounts being spent on shows and TV for Disney Media in Florida. Florida does not have the tax incentives that Georgia has for shows and movies. In fact, after Florida's tax incentive programs ended, most Florida-based crews left the state for California or Atlanta.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

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.

I gotta be honest…do you know how and why they asked for “autonomy”?

Like the actual history?

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Why did it need to go?

I was going to ask the same thing, I felt the first paragraph perfectly described RCID, and then the second went the opposite direction.

RCID seemed to benefit everyone, why get rid of it?

 

[afterabme]

Yes. In fact, unless there's several medical emergencies happening simultaneously within the park, they are generally strategically positioned backstage for a quick response.

RCFD handles most, save for some circumstances where they had to call in Orange or Osceola for mutual aid.

 

[peter11435]

The autonomy is the issue,

be specific… what was the problem

 

[UNCgolf]

I'm pretty surprised that a reputable polling company would ask a question like that. It's terribly written and almost sounds like something from a push poll.

I have a friend who used to be involved in polling in DC (not as a pollster but in a position that used polling data) and that kind of question would generally be thrown out before the poll was even put into the field. If it made it in, the results would likely be ignored by experts unless they wanted to use them specifically for PR. As an example, although I don't remember the specifics of the issues, he told me more than once about results that looked great for them but were marked it out as worthless because of serious concerns about the reliability of the data due to the question asked.

That doesn't mean it's automatically wrong -- they could have inadvertently stumbled over accurate data even with a bad question -- just that it's hard to draw any solid conclusions from it.

 

[tissandtully]

I'm pretty surprised that a reputable polling company would ask a question like that. It's terribly written and almost sounds like something from a push poll.

I have a friend who used to be involved in polling in DC (not as a pollster but in a position that used polling data) and a question like that would generally be thrown out before the poll was even put into the field, and if it made it in, the results would likely be ignored by experts unless they wanted to use them specifically for PR. As an example, although I don't remember the specifics of the issues, he told me more than once about results that looked great for them but were marked it out as worthless because of serious concerns about the reliability of the data due to the question asked.

That doesn't mean it's automatically wrong -- they could have inadvertently stumbled over accurate data even with a bad question -- just that it's hard to draw any solid conclusions from it.

Hey but at least people on a Disney forum can use it to somehow prove their point

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Are we really going back to debating the merits of the original bill that started all of this?

We're not debating the merits. We're analyzing where public opinion is on the issue. It's one level more abstract.

Debating the merits is "I think X is better than Y."

What we're doing here is "people seem to think that X is better than Y."

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

There also are traditional Democrats who don’t think it’s good for the country for powerful for-profit corporations to have First Amendment rights on par with ordinary people.

Yes, it’s obvious that many of them don’t want anyone who disagrees with them to have first amendment rights. That’s the scary part.

 

[Chi84]

There are plenty of traditional Democrats who were uncomfortable with the RCID arrangement before recent events.

Not all traditional Democrats were (or are) comfortable with Disney’s arrangement.

There also are traditional Democrats who don’t think it’s good for the country for powerful for-profit corporations to have First Amendment rights on par with ordinary people.

These political beliefs predate recent events.

What specifically about Disney's arrangement do you think made them uncomfortable before recent events? I do agree about Citizens United.

 

[mikejs78]

I'm pretty surprised that a reputable polling company would ask a question like that. It's terribly written and almost sounds like something from a push poll.

I have a friend who used to be involved in polling in DC and a question like that would generally be thrown out before the poll was even put into the field, and if it made it in, the results would likely be ignored by experts unless they wanted to use them specifically for PR.

That doesn't mean it's automatically wrong -- they could have inadvertently stumbled over accurate data even with a bad question -- just that it's hard to draw any solid conclusions from it.

I can honestly say that if I didn't know anything about this situation, there's a chance I would have said I agree, because the statement "special taxing district" makes me think they are avoiding taxes.

 

[Chi84]

I can honestly say that if I didn't know anything about this situation, there's a chance I would have said I agree, because the statement "special taxing district" makes me think they are avoiding taxes.

Seriously. Ask the Democrats if they think Disney should be paying more in taxes and reduce the costs of public inspections.

 

[GoofGoof]

I can honestly say that if I didn't know anything about this situation, there's a chance I would have said I agree, because the statement "special taxing district" makes me think they are avoiding taxes.

Actually if you go to the exact wording they said ”threatening to remove its special tax status” which I think goes beyond just calling it a special tax district (special tax districts are known to exist, at least in FL) but may be splitting hairs a little. The point is any rational person would assume a special tax status would mean a tax break.

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?

The irony of this is about a year ago Reuters released a poll related to this situation and the original bill that showed 62% of Americans said “they were less likely to back a candidate who supports going after companies for their views”. When that poll was posted here a number of posters claimed Reuters was biased, the question was biased and polls are always wrong. I believe most of those posts got deleted (maybe these will too) but it shows that both sides don’t want to believe a poll that says they may be wrong