I would say solely doing this would be unpopular and I wouldn’t be for it.
I could see it working. Properties:
Assign each emoji an up/downvote and keep the current system. Hitting an emoji also does one of these.
Have a separate bar for emojis that is collapsed by default
Make emojis optional so you can still up/downvote
That is an instant skip for me. Same with the vertical split with just pointing at the video and adding nothing of substance while shrinking the video