California Governor Gavin Newsom speaking at the State of the State address in Sacramento, CA, Mar 8, 2022. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock)
Gov. Gavin Newsom Approval Ratings Have Sunk to an All-Time Low; ‘Hated by Younger People’
‘A ton of older Californians don’t like him too, and as the poll showed, they’re slowly turning on him too’
By Evan Symon, November 8, 2023 2:30 am
According to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) poll released on Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom’s approval ratings have sunk to an all-time low, with more Californians now disapproving of the Governor rather than approving of him.
Following his swearing-in as Governor in 2019, Newsom initially enjoyed high approval ratings. In 2020, a year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, PPIC polls showed Newsom still riding high. A May 2020 poll showed Newsom with a 63% approval rating, with an October 2020 poll having him come in at 57%. In 2021, things began to take a turn however. Growing resentment over his draconian COVID-19 policies, as well as worsening rising costs, high taxes, crime spiking as well as homelessness, and a whole range of personal issues, including ignoring his own masking laws multiple times, severely hurt Newsom’s reputation.
By January 2021, Newsom stood at 52% approval with 43% disapproval. It was enough to spur a recall election that year, which led to a then all-time low approval rating of 46%, with 48% disapproving. While Newsom managed to avoid being recalled, the whole recall election and the issues surrounding the decline of California not going away kept approval ratings in the high 40s to the mid 50s throughout 2022 and into 2023.
However, on Tuesday, Newsom slipped yet again in job approval. A new UC Berkeley IGS poll found that 49% of Californians now disapprove of Newsom, with only 44% approving – a record low for the Governor. The new figures also marked a drastic drop of support since when the last poll was taken in February 2023, when Newsom’s approval was at 55% and disapproval only at 39%.
While drops in support were found in every demographic between February and October, some areas were more dramatic than others. While GOP support showed little movement, with support falling from 8% to 7%, support among Democrats freefell from 82% to 66%, with undecided voters going from 49% to 37%. Geographically, support in Los Angeles County, a Democratic stronghold, fell sharply from a 62% approval rating to 47%. The only area of California still giving Newsom above a 50% is his base of the San Francisco Bay area, and even there it plummeted from February, going from 66% to 53%.
Most surprising was amongst age groups, with Gen Z and Millennials showing the largest turns away from the Governor. A 15 percent drop of support was seen from 18-29-year-olds, going from 50% to 35%, with the 30-39 year-old group going down by 16 percent, from 54% to 38%. Even Newsom’s large 65-and-over stronghold fell by 5 percent, going from 58% support to 53%.
Newsom did fare somewhat better in recent decisions. His recent Chinese trip received a 50% approval and 39% disapproval from Californians, despite the vast majority of Chinese Americans opposing it. And his decision to have LaPhonza Butler be installed as a caretaker Senator was approved by 39% of Californians as opposed to 30% disapproving it. However, the later should also be taken lightly, as 33% of those polled had no opinion on the matter, largely due to Butler being largely unknown before last month.
Overall, the new poll found that Newsom is becoming less popular, and that California’s further decline is only hurting his standing nationwide and further hurting the state as a whole.
Newsom falls to record low approval rating
“The dip in Newsom’s approval suggests that many Californians are concerned with how things are going in the state, which may give the governor less leeway to fully engage on the national stage,” said IGS Co-Director Eric Schickler.
Newsom’s office was dismissive of the new poll on Tuesday, with Newsom spokesman Nathan Click saying that “It’s an outlier.” He also noted another recent poll showing that Newsom was at a 56% approval rating, with only 38% disapproving of him.
However, experts added on Tuesday that Newsom’s shift to national politics in recent years, largely seen as him aiming at a 2024 or 2028 run for the presidency, has been particularly affecting voters.
“Newsom is kind of taking on a new persona,” said UC Berkeley IGS pollster Mark DiCamillo. “He’s no longer just the governor of California. He’s a spokesperson for the national party and basically voters are being asked to react to that.”
In an interview with the Globe, Stephanie Lewis, a pollster in Southern California, added, “The Democrats need to come to terms that Newsom is just being liked by fewer and fewer people and that they don’t trust him anymore. That China trip was polarizing, and his trips across the country have made Californians feel left out. Right-leaning voters in California already didn’t like him, and moderates have been battered for years by the guy. Newsom has been kept above water by Democrats, but as we saw today, that is no longer really the case.”
“Most worrying for him is how much he his hated by younger people, who tend to be more liberal. He’s losing out on people in their 20s and 30s, the group who lost out on early opportunities because of the Great Recession, then were struck again by the COVID job loss. They don’t like Newsom. Newsom still appeals to older Californians, in part because of all the benefits in place, but that is a general assessment. A ton of older Californians don’t like him too, and as the poll showed, they’re slowly turning on him too.”
“The GOP is in a good spot to gain a lot of voters from usually hard to get demographics for them, in part due to Newsom’s approval tanking. If they go more moderate on some issues and emphasize bringing back California from where it is now, there can be some real change. As for Newsom, this poll should be a warning. What he is doing is not working, and more and more Californians are seeing it as such.”
Other Newsom approval polls are to come out in the coming months.
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If the mainstream media was real he would have almost a zero percent rating!!!
So true, Belka. The MSM is his main cheerleader!
It is hopeful that the youngers are cluing in!
It would be great if Turning Point USA could spend a bit more time in Cali.
Believe what your own eyes have seen young ones. We have been under the CONTROL of a megalomanic governor and supermajority, who have done everything in their power to destroy this state! The rot is visible and stinks all over this state.
Newsom’s decline in an environment such a s we are in today is due to publications like the California Globe that are bringing the wood and exposing his corruption and overall ineptness.
Yes! This publication brings awareness. The younger generation love alternative media and You Tube influencers. Conservative influencers should take full advantage of those platforms, to win hearts and minds. Common sense and New Wave Conservatism is on the horizon.
This publication as well as the California Insider youtube channel which was recently kicked off there, and has made a recent reappearance – albeit, I predict a short-lived revival there – they’re working on setting up on another platform.
Never trusted the PPIC poll because it has historically existed to “create reality and not reflect it,” and the IGS poll used to be good but has become a sketchy mixed bag in recent years if you ask me. Always a good idea with any poll to look at the questions asked and the methodology. But whatever, if either of these polls reflects reality even a LITTLE BIT, which is possible, I think it is safe to conclude that feelings about and reactions to Newsom are EVEN WORSE and likely MUCH MUCH WORSE than is shown in these polls.
What’s also interesting to me is that when one has cheated in elections and rigged them for many years, EVENTUALLY the truth has to come out about what is REALLY going on amongst the electorate. Over time the polls tend to show how people REALLY voted in those elections and those efforts to recall the candidate brags about having beaten. NOTE: If CA Dem/Marxist legislators would like to remove doubt about the dishonesty of our elections they are always free to remove that doubt by returning us to voter ID, paper ballots, and one-day elections. But they don’t and they won’t. Gee, I think that says “I’m guilty!” DUH
See how Newsom’s people are now protesting that their usually-kiss-kiss-BFF pollsters (PPIC and IGS) are suddenly horribly inaccurate? Because their own cheesy hand-picked American Idol-style polls (vote as often as you want) show high ratings for Newsom & Friends? LOL
Love this!
Yes, if I were a betting person I would put a whole lot down that Newsom’s polling is much worse than stated.
How the question is posed is soooo extremely important!
I really appreciated your points.
So many great responses as per usual on here!
Take note my dear young readers. It is so important to do your own research and become politically aware and know history. It will serve you well when it is time to vote.
The bonus, it may just put a little cash back in your pocket, i.e. lower gas prices, sales tax and income tax…..
Thanks Cali Girl. 🙂
Showandtell, Shasta County recently decided that they would revert to hand counted paper ballots and the legislature promptly passed emergency legislation that ballots must be counted electronically by machines. The legislation was effective immediately thereby insuring future voting corruption.
I saw that, Fed Up! It’s beyond belief isn’t it. What could be more absurd than that legislation?
These creeps aren’t even bothering to hide what they are doing anymore.
If popularity to a bunch of checked out mentally ill lost children mattered, those kids would be in prison right now.
The discontent of the subjects of Lord Newsom’s reign is as insignificant as the salt on his eggs in the morning. Not even an inconvenience.
Those same angry people are totally reliant on every modern convenience that Newsom and his masters provide on this island of global capitalism. We are becoming a wedge to break apart the United States – a target for animosity and blood feuds between rival American states. The crack-up of Russia is as important as the dissolution of the United States to those directing affairs on a global level. Newsom just completed a tour of the slave labor factories of Asia that undercut our sovereignty; he also visited Israel to understand the model of blood feud to facilitate perpetual war and imperial resource extraction.
The best we can do for ourselves is to de-network as much of our lives as possible, to become legitimately sovereign in as many aspects of our lives as possible. Newsom is a symptom. Their data centers, our reliance on the imported manufactured goods and networked services – those are the circuits of control. We have everything, right here, to keep and maintain ourselves for many generations.
There needs to be something of a tax revolt, with our dollars held in escrow accounts, and used to arm, train, etc. the very forces required to keep America unified against dissolution.
Many entry level government jobs in this state, as well as a growing number in many private sector entry level positions, are now only available to those who are “bi-lingual”. Which means many local and legal residents cannot even apply, or must accept they will lose out in the “bilingual candidates preferred” winnowing process.
Government jobs are the real cash cow in this state – No Help Wanted signs out for just plain old English speakers. Handwriting is on the wall for many young people in this state. You don’t belong here any more, and we won’t hire you. Even if hired, one quickly runs into “tribal” workplace exclusions,
This, along with nepotism in current government hiring practices, needs a deep dive investigation to see what is really happening to opportunity for all young people in this state.
This has to be the ultimate freedom…to be Newsom doing and saying exactly what he pleases at every moment knowing he could be the Devil’s spawn, but still have a (D) next to his name and be utterly invincible in California. Plus, using taxpayer funds with wanton abandon and zero accountability. Who’d want to give this up? What a gig!
Young people better learn to hate all Democrats, once they finally realize how much future public debt was run up in their names.
They are the ones now stuck paying off Democrat’s trillions of dollars of borrowed money, with no end in sight While today’s Democrats run off with all the goodies these borrowed fund paid in government employee perks and pensions
Democrat’s collective fiscal mismagement has handed young people a very bleak and very different future than any prior generation in this country. I am very sorry, but they are the ones kept voting Democrat. This one is now on you. After all, GOP are big meanies who want to take all this “free” stuff away from them.