Should Gavin Newsom Be Recalled? Patch Readers Are Split

CALIFORNIA — It's official. The Golden State's progressive Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom will appear on a recall election ballot as early as this summer or early fall.

Authorities announced Wednesday that enough signatures had been submitted to trigger a recall election.

In a recent non-scientific voting survey, Patch asked readers to share their thoughts about the gubernatorial election. Out of a pool of 9,290 respondents, participants were evenly divided on whether they thought the governor should be ousted from office: 48.3 percent said he should remain in office, while 50 percent said he should be unseated. Just 1.6 percent said "maybe."

READ MORE: Newsom Recall Election Officially Happening: What To Know

The survey, which appeared in questionnaire form this week on Patch, is not meant to be a scientific poll but only to give a broad idea of public sentiment.

While plans to launch a recall effort arose months before the pandemic severely affected Californians, supporters have said that Newsom's response to the pandemic accelerated the campaign.

The recall was first launched by the Republican-led California Patriot Coalition, but it intensified during some of the darkest months of the pandemic. After Newsom's French Laundry soiree — where the governor was seen dining out with a large group of people after urging Californians to stay home — the prospect of a recall election became all but certain.

We asked readers: Do you think Newsom's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis was effective?

• 47.5 percent said "no."
• 47.4 percent said "yes."
• 5.1 percent said "maybe."

The upcoming election will pit Newsom against a variety of Republican hopefuls. No prominent Democrat has announced their candidacy as the party is standing in solidarity with Newsom by not endorsing another Democratic runner. Also, Newsom cannot appear as a replacement for himself on the recall ballot.

Several have announced plans to run, but there are several steps potential candidates must take before they become actual candidates, such as paying a $3,916.12 filing fee or submitting at least 7,000 signatures, according to the California secretary of state.

Caitlyn Jenner, John Cox, Kevin Faulconer, Doug Ose, Angelyne, Mary Carey and Sam Gallucci have all said they will run. Ric Grenell has also teased his candidacy for California governor.

READ MORE: CA Recall Election: Who Is Running?

We asked readers: Have you seen or heard from any potential recall race candidates that you would vote for over Newsom?

• 59.7 percent said "no."
• 32 percent said "yes."
• 8.3 percent said "maybe."

We also asked readers whether they thought Newsom could win the election. More than 43 percent said "yes," 38.7 percent said "no" and 17.6 percent said "maybe."

A total of 43 signatures were withdrawn statewide from petitions to recall Newsom; the remaining 1,719,900 verified signatures still met the threshold to initiate a recall election, elections officials said this week.

Looking ahead, Secretary of State Shirley Weber's letter to the Department of Finance triggered the next phase of the recall process, in which the department will estimate the cost of the gubernatorial recall if it is held as a special election and if it is held as part of the next regularly scheduled election.

Democratic leaders of the state Legislature have proposed $215 million to be included in the state budget to cover costs related to the recall election to unseat Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The boost in funds, legislators said, would allow for an earlier recall election date, which the governor's supporters believe could help keep him in office.

The proposal to cover the costs came just hours after the California Department of Finance unofficially estimated that a gubernatorial recall election could cost California's 58 counties a collective $215 million.

An official estimation of costs of the recall election must be submitted to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the secretary of state and the chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee by Aug. 5. The committee has 30 days to review and comment, after which time the secretary of state will certify the sufficiency of signatures.

Then, a date will be set by Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis.

Over the last several months, the governor has been promoting his own counter-campaign, "Stop the Republican Recall," which paints the effort as one backed by supporters of former president Donald Trump, QAnon supporters, anti-vaccine activists and "extremist Republicans."

"I won't be distracted by this partisan, Republican recall — but I will fight it," Newsom said in mid-March. "There is too much at stake."

Swaths of Democratic leaders have also rallied behind Newsom, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, Alex Padilla and Elizabeth Warren; Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Rep. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams.

President Joe Biden also said he opposes the effort to recall Newsom, Jen Psaki, Biden's press secretary said in February.

"Extremist Republicans have done enough to undermine democracy already," Sanders wrote in a statement for the campaign. "We must all unite to oppose the recall in California."