Animal Rising's Grand National protest: public opinion impacts and beyond

Why this matters

The Grand National protest dominated UK news for days and was Animal Rising's largest mobilisation moment to date. The effects of disruptive animal rights protest on public opinion are poorly understood, and existing studies on climate and civil rights protest point in conflicting directions. This study is one of the first to test these effects in the animal advocacy context using a pre- and post-protest panel.

What we found

The protest succeeded in putting animal welfare on the national agenda: people who had heard more about Animal Rising or the protest reported thinking more about animal welfare and rights. Direct donations to Animal Rising spiked sharply after the protest, and sign-ups to take action peaked around the event, suggesting clear gains for movement-building.

However, attitudes on several issues moved in the wrong direction. Greater awareness of the protest was associated with less agreement that society has a broken relationship with animals and needs to change how we treat them, and slightly more acceptance of using animals for entertainment. Exploratory analysis suggests polarisation: people with already favourable views were affected positively, while those with less favourable views (a far larger group) were affected negatively.

What it means for advocates

Disruptive animal rights protest can simultaneously drive strong positive effects (attention, mobilisation, donations) and short-term negative attitudinal effects on the wider public. Whether these immediate negative effects fade or are outweighed over time as the movement continues to campaign is an open question that requires longer-term follow-up.