California Governor Gavin Newsom’s approval rating was reached during the coronavirus pandemic, according to two new polls, which could be a “warning” to the governor at a time when the recall effort against him is heating up. .
A survey by the Berkeley Institute for Government Studies released on Tuesday showed Newsom’s approval rating of 46% among registered voters, compared with 64% in September.
“Fueling the decline is the public’s much more negative assessment of how Newsom and the state government are dealing with the pandemic,” wrote Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS Poll.
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Registered voters surveyed do not think he is doing a good job of fighting coronavirus, distributing vaccines to the public and establishing consistent rules for requests to stay at home and trade restrictions.
The drop in approval comes as Newsom faces a serious challenge to its political future.
ARCHIVE – In this January 8, 2021, archival photo, California Governor Gavin Newsom describes his proposed state budget for 2021-2022 during a news conference in Sacramento, California. About a year after the state’s first coronavirus case, Newsom went from being a governor widely acclaimed for his quick response to a leader facing criticism from all angles. (AP Photo / Rich Pedroncelli, Pool, File)
Organizers of a California recall effort said on Thursday that they collected more than 1.4 million signatures. The Secretary of State’s office must validate the signatures. The cut is March 17 to collect 1,495,709 valid signatures to trigger a special election.
Voters interviewed in the Berkeley poll agreed to a recall effort, thinking more that it would be bad for the state than good. But when asked how they would vote in a potential special election, 45% said they would keep Newsom, 36% said they would like to remove it and 19% were undecided.
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“These results should provide a strong warning to the governor,” said Eric Schickler, co-director of the Berkeley IGS Poll. “If the revocation election proceeds, the state’s response to the pandemic needs to be seen as more successful for the governor than now for him to be confident in the outcome of the election.”
Meanwhile, the California Institute of Public Policy poll released on Tuesday found that 52% of likely voters approve of how Newsom is handling his work. This has been a noticeable drop since May 2020, when Newsom had a 64% approval spike for its initial coronavirus response.
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“Most approve of Gavin Newsom’s job as governor, while opinions about him remain deeply divided between Democratic and Republican voters,” said Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of PPIC, in a statement.
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Coronavirus tops the list of concerns for Californians, followed by the economy and jobs. About three out of four likely voters said the state is in an economic recession, according to the PPIC poll.