Californians are realizing Newsom isn’t very good at his job
Zachary Faria
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Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has clearly been positioning himself to run for president in 2028, if not in 2024 as a backup in case President Joe Biden drops out of the race. But Newsom’s future political aspirations are running into an issue: California is poorly managed, and Californians are starting to sour on him.
Newsom’s approval rating has hit an all-time low, according to a poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies. Newsom has an approval of just 44%, with his disapproval at 49%. It’s the first time his approval rating has been underwater since early 2021, when the recall election against him went forward. His approval rating has dropped 11 points since February.
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There isn’t any one culprit either in California’s demographics. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Newsom’s decline in popularity spans nearly every major voter category and includes significant drops among his Democratic base and voters who aren’t affiliated with either party.” His approval rating has dropped 16 points among California Democrats and 12 points from independents.
Much of it likely has to do with Newsom giving little focus to his state as he campaigns for Biden (and positions himself as Biden’s backup) across the country. On top of that, Newsom went on an international work vacation to China to cozy up to the Chinese Communist Party and pretend he was making progress on climate change. Meanwhile, all of California’s problems remain problems, from homelessness and the country’s worst poverty rate to the rising cost of living and the fact that the state is being forced into budget cuts as residents flee for greener pastures.
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This all reflects poorly on Newsom’s obvious presidential hopes. Then again, even before his approval rating tanked, Californians made it clear they didn’t want Newsom to be president. Quinnipiac University found in March that 70% of Californians didn’t want Newsom to run for president, including 54% of California Democrats. As Newsom neglects his own state to scratch his itch for national ambitions, there is no doubt that number has only gone down.
Newsom has been running California into the ground, and even Californians are starting to see it as he spends his time roaming around Iowa and China chasing national headlines. Newsom is obsessed with himself and furthering his own political career. To him, California has been nothing more than a convenient launch pad for his national ambitions.