Most Californians are against recalling Gov. Gavin Newsom — but 1 number should trouble him
There's good news and bad news for California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) when it comes to his September recall election.
In May, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) found that 54 percent of likely voters approved of Newsom's performance, and 57 percent opposed his recall. However, those who want Newsom out of office are 15 percentage points likelier to be following the recall closely — suggesting they are the most energized and eager to hit the polls.
In his Thursday New York Times column, Ezra Klein calls the recall "a farce," as it means "California could see a popular governor ousted not because a majority think he's failed but because they tuned out an unusual mid-cycle referendum they didn't ask for and weren't paying attention to." PPIC's Mark Baldassare agreed with Klein, telling him "it's possible you have an outcome where an electorate that's small and not representative of the public" ousts Newsom.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
To trigger a recall election in California, petitioners must collect a number of valid signatures equivalent to 12 percent of the votes cast in the previous election. Over the last 108 years, only two of the 55 gubernatorial recall attempts have made it to the ballot — Democrat Gray Davis in 2003 and Newsom in 2021. Klein says it makes sense that those two recalls happened within the last 20 years, as recalling politicians is now an actual business in California — there are professional consultants and signature-gatherers at the ready across the state.
Recalls also bring out a motley crew of candidates hoping to replace the governor — the late actor Gary Coleman, comedian Leo Gallagher, publisher Arianna Huffington, adult film actress Mary Carey, and the eventual winner, action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, were all in the running in 2003. This time around, the biggest names are reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner and John Cox, a wealthy businessman who was the 2018 Republican nominee for governor; he lost to Newsom by 23.8 points.
When Newsom's political opponents collected the signatures to trigger this recall election, the state was under lockdown orders to curb the spread of COVID-19. Now, California is emerging from the pandemic with an economy that is soaring and a budget surplus of at least $76 billion. Newsom will have to wait until September to see if this turnaround, and his supporters, are enough to keep him in Sacramento.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Should Labour break manifesto pledge and raise taxes?Today's Big Question There are ‘powerful’ fiscal arguments for an income tax rise but it could mean ‘game over’ for the government
-
Nigerian Modernism: an ‘entrancing, enlightening exhibition’The Week Recommends Tate Modern’s ‘revelatory’ show includes 250 works examining Nigerian art pre- and post independence
-
To the point: the gender divide over exclamation marksTalking Point 'Men harbouring urges to be more exclamative' can finally take a breath – this is what using the punctuation really conveys
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
