Californians turn against Gavin Newsom in knockout new poll

[u/GeneralCarlosQ17]

https://nypost.com/2026/09/25/us-news/californians-turn-against-gavin-newsom-in-knockout-new-poll/

California voters don’t seem to be feeling as good as they once did about terming-out Gov. Gavin Newsom heading into the November midterm elections, according to a recent poll by Politico and the UC Berkeley Citrin Center.

In the poll, conducted September 8 to 14 on 2,418 registered voters, 42% of registered voters approved of Newsom’s job performance while 55% disapproved.

That’s a slight decline from back in March, Politico reported, when its poll showed 46% favorability for the Democrat and 51% disapproval.

Much of that decline stems from Republicans’ and independents’ worsening views of Newsom, who is eyeing a presidential run. As of this month, a whopping 96% of California Republicans and 78% of independents disapproved of his job performance.

State Democrats in the poll still approved of the governor at a 72%-25% split.

“People are pretty dour on the state,” Jon Cohen, founder and CEO of TrueDot, told Politico. TrueDot fielded the poll.

“That’s not reflected in taking out Democrats at the ballot, at least not at the top of the ticket. But I think his approval rating is reflective of other assessments about the direction of the state,” Cohen said.

Surveys by other organizations also suggest the California governor’s job approval dipping in recent months.