Poll Finds More Californians Believe Newsom is Focusing More on Becoming President than Being Governor

According to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) poll released on Wednesday, with well over a majority of voters saying that Governor Gavin Newsom is doing more things that will benefit him as a presidential candidate rather than governing the state and helping solve problems there.

Specifically, 54% of all registered voters in California believe that Newsom is “Doing things that will benefit him a possible candidate for president”. Broken down, this includes 83% of Republicans, 52% no party, and 40% Democrats. Meanwhile, only 26% of registered voters believe that he is “Governing the state and helping to solve its problems.” 41% of Democrats back this view, with only 6% of Republicans and 22% of no party believing it. 20% of all voters held no opinion.

Newsom’s overall popularity in the state also remained stagnant. The poll found that 46% approve of his job as Governor, with another 46% disapproving it. Compared to other polls from the last few years, Newsom has continued to remain well below the 50% approval rating.

Another question asking of “Confidence in Governor Newsom’s ability to be effective in looking out for California’s interests when dealing with the Trump administration” proved to be divisive as well. The poll found that 48% of Californians were confident with Newsom in that regard, with 45% not being confident at all.

“Californians are also about evenly split when asked how confident they are in Governor Newsom’s ability to be effective in looking out for California’s interests when dealing with the Trump administration,” said IGS in a statement. “Statewide, 48% say they have confidence in Newsom’s ability to effectively deal with
the Trump administration, while 45% are not confident. But of those who express confidence, just 14% say they are very confident about his effectiveness. Partisanship dominates their opinions, with 70% of Democrats expressing some confidence in the Governor about this, while 77% of Republicans are not confident. No Party Preference voters are more divided, although slightly more say they are not confident (46%) than those expressing confidence (42%), and just 9% are very confident.”

Newsom continues to be a divisive figure in CA

Overall, the new IGS poll shows that Newsom remains a polarizing figure in California, albeit one shifting more and more towards people not liking him, or at the very least, not wanting him to run for president. Despite the polls showing this, Newsom administration officials have continued to say that Newsom’s priority is governing California, and not on running for President or working on his podcasts.

“The Governor is focused on one thing: his job — driving LA’s recovery, confronting the housing crisis, and taking Donald Trump to court over his disastrous tariffs that are raising costs for families and blowing a hole in California’s budget,” said Newsom administration spokesman Izzy Gardon on Wednesday.

However, despite the Governor’s office saying otherwise, the poll follows a pattern of  other pols in recent months showing not only a decline in Newsom’s popularity, but a growing reluctance of people who would want to support him in a presidential run in 2028.

Part of the problem appears to be his podcasts. While his new podcast, This is Gavin Newsom” has been getting headlines with Newsom talking to many conservative figures and those who were in the Trump administration, it has likewise turned into a disaster for him. Conservative figures walked over Newsom in the podcast, with Newsom also damaging support over transgender athlete comments. A poll in March found that while 13%of voters held an improved perception of the Governor through the podcast, 26% said it harmed their perception of Newsom.

It is even worse when it comes to recent presidential candidate polls. An Emerson College poll last month found that nearly 60% of Californians don’t want Newsom to run in 2028, with recent polling showing that Newsom is also currently a distant fifth amongst potential 2028 Democratic candidates.

Overall, Newsom’s more recent attempts to improve and gain early ground as a candidate in 2028 seems to not be working, with Republicans, centrists, and even center-leaning Democrats moving further and further away from support.