More Californians disapprove than approve of Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom's job performance, according to a new poll.
A total of 49% of California voters say they disapprove of Newsom's job performance, the University of California, Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) poll results showed.
Only 44% of the state's voters approve of Newsom's job performance a year after he won reelection. He survived a recall attempt in September 2021.
IGS found that the proportion strongly approving of Newsom's performance declined from 25% to 18%, while those strongly disapproving climbed from 29% to 36%.
Newsom also saw significant declines among political moderates and unaffiliated voters. Moderate voters disapprove of the governor's job performance 54% to 38% (8% no opinion), and unaffiliated voters disapprove 54% to 37% (9% had no opinion).
"The dip in Newsom's approval suggests that many Californians are concerned with how things are going in the state, which may give the governor less leeway to fully engage on the national stage," IGS co-Director Eric Schickler said.
The state's voters also are about evenly divided when asked whether they favor or oppose Newsom's efforts to take a more prominent role in national politics. A total of 45% of voters say they favor his doing so, and 43% are opposed.
Newsom has been mentioned as a possible Democrat candidate if President Joe Biden decides not to seek reelection.
A total of 85% of California's Republican voters oppose Newsom taking on this new national role. Unaffiliated voters also disapprove 47% to 37%. However, 70% of Democrats favor Newsom's actions on the national stage.
Overall, women are more favorable toward Newsom than men. A total of 46% women approve of the governor's job performance, and 45% disapprove. With men, the numbers are 41% and 52%, respectively.
Black people (57% approval, 38% disapproval) showed more support to Newsom than white voters (52% disapproval, 44% approval) and Latinos (48% disapproval, 45% approval).
The latest Berkeley IGS poll was conducted Oct. 24-30 among 6,342 registered California voters.