Newsom Is in Trouble

Latest poll from my friends at the Institute of Governmental Studies at Berkeley shows that Gov. Newsom, facing a recall campaign that looks like it has a good shot at getting the necessary signatures by the mid-March deadline, is in trouble:

Californians are reevaluating their views of the job Gavin Newsom is doing as governor.  The latest Berkeley IGS Poll conducted online last week among over 10,000 registered voters finds just 46% approving of Newsom’s performance as governor, while 48% disapprove, 31% of whom disapprove strongly. This represents a big shift in public sentiment from last year when large majorities approved of the job Newsom was doing.

Fueling the decline is the public’s much more negative assessment of the way Newsom and state government are handling the pandemic.  The latest poll finds fewer than one in three Californians (31%) rating Newsom as doing an excellent or good job in handling the pandemic overall, down from 49% last September.  Also, just 22% offer a positive rating of the job he and state government are doing in overseeing the distribution of the coronavirus vaccines to the public. . .

When asked about the possibility of holding a special election later this year to recall the Governor, more voters (49%) feel it would be a bad thing for the state rather than a good thing (36%). And when asked how they would currently be disposed to vote if a recall election were held, while less than half (45%) say they would vote to retain the Governor, just 36% say they are now prepared to vote to remove Newsom from office.  A relatively large proportion of voters (19%) are undecided.

Meanwhile, the betting markets have the odds of the recall election happening at about 60 percent. Maybe he can borrow Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s press agent. Oh, wait. . .

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