California Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling in some of the nation’s biggest progressive names to help him fight a potential recall election later this year.
According to Politico, Newsom has picked up backing from “Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Alex Padilla, as well as Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams.”
The anti-recall effort casts Newsom’s opponents as “anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, assorted conspiracy theorists, and hard-core, anti-immigrant Trump supporters who want to overturn Governor Newsom’s election and stop California’s progress in combating COVID-19.”
Polling from Emerson College is s mixed bag for all sides. Newsom is somewhat safe from recall at this point, but he’s not well-liked, either. When asked about the recall effort:
42% of California voters said they would vote to keep Newsom, 38% would vote to recall, and 14% were undecided. Six percent (6%) said they would not vote in a recall.
On Newsom’s long-term prospects:
Spencer Kimball, Director of Emerson College Polling, said “if Governor Newsom is able to survive the recall, he will have his work cut out for him in 2022 as 58% of voters think it is time for someone new, while only 42% say they would re-elect Governor Newsom.”
Overall, voters kind of like the idea of a recall:
…when asked how they would characterize the California recall election, a strong majority (72%) said it was a good example of the democratic process, while 28% said it was a threat to democracy.
Bottom line: if the recall effort does make it to the ballot, expect things to get very ugly, very quickly.