Home>Articles>New UC Berkeley Poll Finds Gov. Newsom Losing Ground With Voters

Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference after visiting the first of two Clean California sites in Los Angeles, CA, Dec. 15, 2021. (Photo: Ringo Chiu/Shutterstock)

New UC Berkeley Poll Finds Gov. Newsom Losing Ground With Voters

The significant drop in quality-of-life throughout the state is now reflecting poorly on the governor

By Katy Grimes, February 15, 2022 2:09 pm

poll released Tuesday by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies shows California Governor Gavin Newsom’s approval rating is sinking across most voter groups. Most Californians won’t be surprised why: continuing COVID restrictions two years in, never-ending mask mandates on kids while Hollywood celebrities and the state’s elected Democrats violate their own COVID orders and mandates, as well as rampant homelessness and crime throughout the state.

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“Contributing to voters’ more mixed assessment of the Governor are growing concerns of how Newsom is handling several festering problems, such as homelessness and crime, that are now plaguing the state,” the poll said.

“For example, two in three voters (66%) now rate Newsom as doing a ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ job in his handling  of the issue of homelessness. This is up 12 percentage points from 2020, the last time the poll made an assessment. In addition, a 51% majority of voters also downrates the Governor’s performance on crime and public safety issues, up 16 percentage points from 2020.”

Pollsters note that homelessness and crime stand out as areas of the greatest criticism.

This is happening all while Californians are more than ready to reopen the state fully, and are pushing tone-deaf officials to end the COVID restrictions.

Of particular note is the awareness of the effects of Proposition 47 California voters have acquired since voting for its passage in 2014.

Proposition 47, passed by misinformed voters in 2014, flagrantly titled “The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,” decriminalized drug possession from a felony to a misdemeanor, removing law enforcement’s ability to make an arrest in most circumstances, as well as removing judges’ ability to order drug rehabilitation programs rather than incarceration. And perhaps the most obvious aspect of Prop. 47 on display today raised the theft threshold to $950 per location, and bumped theft down to a misdemeanor from a felony.

These are quality of life issues, which don’t differentiate between Republicans and Democrats.

Gov. Newsom also let another 76,000 prisoners out of state prisons – on his own authority through Executive Order – as violent crime is spiking in California’s cities. In July 2020, the Globe reported on 18,000 prisoners released “due to COVID.”

“And, by a nearly two-to-one margin voters support changing the 2014 voter-approved ballot measure that reduced penalties for certain types of property crimes, like shoplifting of items valued at no more than $950, from potential felonies to misdemeanors,” the poll said.

“These results suggest that some of the same dissatisfaction that’s hurting Democrats nationally is affecting Governor Newsom’s popularity in the state,” observed IGS co-director Eric Schickler.

Voters are keenly aware of the significant drop in quality-of-life throughout the state, and this awareness is now reflecting poorly on the governor.

Voters were also asked to assess the job Newsom was doing in ten specific areas. “The results show that voters offer more negative than positive assessment of the Governor in eight of the ten areas rated. The areas where Newsom receives his poorest marks are his handling of homelessness (66% poor or very poor vs. 11% excellent or good) and his handling of the issue of crime and public safety (51% poor or very poor vs. 20% excellent or good).

Both issues have also seen a double digit increase in the proportion of voters offering a negative assessment since 2020.

The poll finds more negative than positive opinions of Gov. Newsom’s job performance across most major voter groups on important statewide issues like water policies, wildfire policies, education and schools, health care, and the budget surplus.

You can read the entire poll here.

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14 thoughts on “New UC Berkeley Poll Finds Gov. Newsom Losing Ground With Voters

  1. “The significant drop in quality-of-life throughout the state is now reflecting poorly on the governor.”

    But you do realize that Newsom will win re-election anyway. The idea of voting for a gubernatorial candidate with an “R” next to their name makes most Californians vomit. So voters just replace one democrat with another, hoping for a different outcome.

  2. Newsom is yesterday’s news. He is on his way out and there is nothing he can do about it. Treason and crimes against humanity charges are waiting for him.

  3. It’s taken quite a long time for Californians to get clarity on this slick, narcissist, poor excuse of a leader.
    One can only hope that voters won’t get fooled again.

  4. I have lately wondered what a gubernatorial election in California would look like if the candidates had no political affiliation next to their name on the ballot, instead a sentence or two of what they stand for. It would be similar to city ballots.
    Would California be in a different place right now?
    In my dream world they would also be allotted the same amount of campaign funds and no dark money would be allowed from PACS. No mail-in ballots with the exception of an pre-approved absentee ballots and no ballot harvesting or dominion servers.

    One can dream…????

    1. I’m dreaming alongside you, Cali Girl. And I’m CONFIDENT that if we had been able to have “clean enough” elections “California would be in a different place right now.”

      1. Then, I am in good company!
        California is the testing ground for the dirty deeds of the political/technocrat elites.

  5. I am extremely surprised anyone has any faith in any of these polls. Obviously people lost favor with this ass hat, Gavin 2 years ago. That is why he was recalled. The democrats cheated the recall election. Sadly, there are NO good CA leaders who will address this problem, because they all got in via voter fraud too.

  6. And we’re supposed to believe that this has all changed since the recall election, right?
    This is just more evidence that the Dumbonion Voting Systems were manipulated to keep this doofus in office…

    It is CRITICALLY important to keep reminding people that Newsom AND Justin Trudeau are both disciples of Klaus Schwab’s “Young Global Leaders” program from the World Economic Forum, aka our generation’s Nazi party that wants global domination, except they’re going about it with economic and medical tyranny levers (so far) and the world needs to RESIST anything and EVERYTHING to do with anything promulgated by “Young Global Leaders” alumni because they’re basically out to either kill or enslave you via transhumanist medical systems, like the clot-shots and their nanobots ….

    I know, it’s “tin-foil hat” stuff, but the more one researches it, the more dystopian the entire plandemic becomes…

    And now there are recent reports that Johns Hopkins has tested systems that can “vaccinate” using the “brain tickler” PCR tests, which have probably been used to de-sensitize us to having swabs shoved up our noses until our brains are tickled…
    https://www.cosmicworld.site/johns-hopkins-university-confirms-you-can-be-vaccinated-with-a-pcr-test-even-without-knowing

    1. It is not tin foil hat. I say this because Klaus Schwab has written books about his intentions. The WEF has a website that you can peruse. It will give you the names of their Young Global Leaders. They meet yearly in Davos. Bill Gates is a part of this elite cult. Look up event 201. It all leads to the lockdowns and climate change policies we are living under.

      Thanks for the reminders CriticalD and keep on reminding!

  7. I do not trust polls, but I give them more credit for truth than the election process in California. CriticalDfence9 and Cali Girl spoke for me, as well. Not sure David wants to give the dems more rope to hang-themselves, but the result will be the rest of us hanging with them. I also somewhat agree with David, many people, like myself, have dumped all political parties and research candidates to vote according to my own values. While I do not trust my vote or others to be accurately counted in California, I will continue to vote in hopes that more problems are validated, and changes are made.

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