Somewhat. Likes and dislikes are some of the hundreds of signals that we consider for ranking. Our recommendation system learns from whether or not viewers are choosing to watch a video. The system learns how much of the video the viewer watches and if they’re satisfied. Your overall video performance is decided by a combination of these factors.
If I upload a video as unlisted and later make it public, it will not have any negative impact on video, what matters is how viewers respond after it’s been published.