Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) is facing a recall election with California voters on September 14. His tone has turned more introspective recently as a process Democrats once dismissed as whimsical has become severe.
The governor has become somewhat defensive, telling the Sacramento Bee recently of his achievements that are cast as more historical than forward-looking. Newsom touts his record spending on education and securing an extra year of public education, “transitional kindergarten.”
“If they kick me out. I’m going to feel good about what we just did and not ever regret a damn thing,” Newsom said.
Meanwhile, Newsom seems oblivious to the voters’ anger about the shutdown of in-person schooling and the permanent damage done to children over the last school year. His posturing toward keeping schools closed yet again this fall is not doing him any favors with many voters.
He has no apparent awareness of the damage done to small businesses that form the backbone of the state’s economy with devastating lockdown orders that have been of dubious benefit.
Now Newsom is resorting to a doom-and-gloom campaign strategy. He predicts that a successful recall in California would be felt nationwide and would boost Republican outcomes in next year’s federal midterm elections. He is wondering out loud whether the national Democratic Party is doing enough to help save him from recall to avoid that outcome.
The governor is also threatening that his recall could affect many other policy goals of Democrats, including those regarding climate change, immigration, health care, and COVID.
Newsom’s privileged life has likely insulated him from the lives of ordinary Californians that he cannot understand the widespread support for his recall that is gaining steam as the election approaches.
A new poll released August 4 shows that the recall election is now a nearly dead heat. An Emerson College Nexstar poll shows that 46 percent of all voters favor recall and 48 percent are opposed. Only 6 percent are still undecided.
Undecided voters have recently fallen by three percent, as the number favoring recall has risen by the same number. That trend should be especially troubling for Newsom.
The number of Republicans favoring recall stands at 80 percent, and 54 percent of independents are now responding in favor of the memory.
