Newsom Continues to Lose Ground in Polling
Gavin Newsom

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s popularity continues its downward slide according to the latest poll from Survey USA/San Diego Union Tribune. Quizzing 1,100 Californians last week, it found that a majority now want to recall him, while only 40 percent want to keep him in office.

What is remarkable is that an Emerson College poll taken just two weeks earlier showed Californians saying that, despite his many faults, they wanted to keep him in office. In that poll, 48 percent said they supported Newsom, while 43 percent said they wanted him out. That is a staggering decline in just two weeks.

Newsom is fighting against the results of his own policies, some of which have just been ruled unconstitutional. On July 23, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled against Newsom by declaring that his order to prohibit private schools from holding in-person classes was unconstitutional.

His “get out of jail free” rulings for convicted felons and his unilateral declaration suspending the execution of murderers haven’t helped, either. According to Jane Holland of State Crime Watch, Newsom is directly responsible for the state’s “brand new wave of crime.”

Newsom has other baggage dragging down his campaign, such as California’s homelessness crisis, the lockdowns that have either shut down or dreadfully damaged 70 percent of the state’s small businesses, the wave of former residents fleeing the state’s mismanagement of wildfires and drought, high taxes and gasoline prices, the decline in quality of public schools, the rise in land and housing costs, and the spike in suicide rates and depression. Under his watch, California remains one of the most locked-down states in the union.

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All of this is fodder for the Republican opponent most likely to win the recall vote on September 14: the “Sage from South Central,” author and talk-show host Larry Elder. Since his announcement that he was joining the fray in early July, Elder’s campaign has raised more than $4.5 million and continues to widen his advantage over his Republican rivals in the polls.

The first poll, taken just days after his announcement, showed him with a 10-percentage point advantage over his nearest rival. More recent polls show him with a 23-percentage point advantage.

Part of his momentum must be attributed to the Democrat Secretary of State Shirley Weber. She deliberately and intentionally kept him off the recall ballot, claiming the weakest of reasons that were shortly laughed out of court.

Now she is using something called the “Remote Accessible Ballots for Eligible Voters,” a method by which voters can download ballots “in the comfort of their own home,” mark them, sign them, and mail them back.

But, as Monica Showalter noted at American Thinker, “When the numbers are big enough, they can’t cheat.” With the recall election just a month away, and Elder’s commanding lead over his opponents while Newsom is losing ground, the response to the first question on the ballot — “Should Gavin Newsom be recalled as Governor?” — is increasingly likely to be bad news for Newsom. Then, voters will answer the second question — whom do you want to replace him? — with the increasing likelihood that it will be Elder.

Related articles:

Latest Poll Shows Newsom in Trouble Ahead of Recall Election

“He’s Got to Go!”: Larry Elder Seeks to Replace Gavin Newsom as Governor of California