“Everything woke turns to s—t,” Donald Trump said last year. “It’s true. Look at what’s happening.”
It’s both amusing and sad just how right he was. For many of us, Disney was a staple of our childhood. We watched Disney movies because of their high-quality storytelling and animation and maybe even went to one of the Disney theme parks at least once. Heck, I’ve even gone to Disney World as an adult with my wife before having kids. We’ve since taken our son to both Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida.
Disney has, for most of our lives, been a place that we could trust for good, wholesome, family-friendly entertainment.
And now we can’t trust them. Parents nationwide are second-guessing Disney’s brand, and the multimedia giant has gone woke, pursuing a radical LGBTQ agenda, and even opposing the anti-grooming Parental Rights in Education law in Florida.
Disney brass doesn’t seem to care too much about it. They’ve gone all-in on this woke garbage. They probably figure the only people who care about it are “right-wing wackos,” and they figure they’re big enough to take a hit by losing their business.
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Except that it’s not just conservatives or Republicans who have lost trust in Disney. According to a new Issues & Insights/TIPP Poll, a majority of independents report that they “no longer trust” Disney’s programming for their children in the wake of the recent stories involving Disney’s opposition to the Florida law and their not-so-secret LGBTQ agenda.
When parents across America were asked, “As a result of the recent stories, how much trust would you place in Disney’s programming for your children, assuming you have any?” 52% of independents say they no longer trust Disney, compared to 42% who say they do.
Predictably, Democrats and liberals were the two groups whose faith in Disney’s programming remains strong, with 77% of Democrats and 73% of liberals saying they still trust the company, with 19% and 21% saying they don’t, respectively.
Only 23% of Republicans say they trust Disney’s programming, while a whopping 70% do not. Count me as part of that 70%. Currently, we still have a subscription to Disney+ (though that may change soon), and I no longer take for granted that the content available to my son on the app will be appropriate.
Overall, 41% said they no longer trust Disney’s programming. It didn’t have to be this way. Disney could have avoided politics and its woke agenda entirely and remained a cherished brand.
This is not the first poll to show that the new Woke Disney is hurting itself. A recent Rasmussen Reports survey found that a plurality of Americans, 45%, think Disney’s woke agenda will make children’s entertainment worse, and only 28% of American adults believe the emphasis on “inclusion” and “diversity” makes children’s entertainment better
Another poll found that over 60% of U.S. voters support the language of Florida’s new Parental Rights in Education law—which Disney has vowed to fight.
Disney has placed itself firmly on the wrong side of this issue, and it’s hard to say whether it will ever be able to earn back the trust it has lost.
