California voters will soon decide whether to recall Gavin Newsom. And the governor is getting nervous. | Analysis by ChrisCillizza
"Democrats up and down the state haven't taken this seriously, whereas Republicans have," Newsom told the Washington Post recently."Republicans see this as a historic opportunity."He's right. And there's new polling out to prove the point.An initial glance at new CBS polling numbers seems to suggest decent news for Newsom, with majority of registered voters saying they don't think he should be recalled and 46% saying he should.
In each episode of his weekly YouTube show, Chris Cillizza will delve a little deeper into the surreal world of politics. Click to subscribe! Democrats -- even those who would consider themselves part of the activist base of the party -- have not been heavily focused on the recall at least in part because the expectation was that Newsom, who still has generally positive job approval numbers, wasn't in any real danger.Base Republicans, on the other hand, have spearheaded the effort to get the recall on the ballot in the first place and view knocking off Newsom as a cause rather than just a campaign.
CA gubernatorial candidate Elder pushes back on being called a 'Trump supporter' 00:53It's possible, of course, that the increased urgency -- and the polling that shows Newsom could well be recalled -- shakes Democrats out of their summer stupor. And because this is California, that would almost certainly mean that Newsom would keep his job since registered Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans.