40 PERCENT IN POLL WOULD VOTE TO REMOVE NEWSOM
Faulconer leads Republican field if recall successful
Fewer than one-third of registered voters in San Diego County say they have signed petitions to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom, but 40 percent of people asked said they would support removing the governor from office.
According to a new SurveyUSA poll commissioned by The San Diego UnionTribune and ABC 10 News, 30 percent of respondents said they signed the recall petition, including 50 percent of Republicans and 17 percent of Democrats.
Sixty-five percent of voters said they had not signed the petition and 5 percent were not sure.
If the recall proposal qualifies for the state ballot, 40 percent of San Diego County registered voters said they would vote to remove Newsom from office, and 35 percent said they would vote against the effort.
The result is a statistical dead heat because the survey had a margin of error of 5.6 percentage points.
A full 25 percent of those surveyed said they were not sure.
Recall organizers last month turned in more than 2 million signatures supporting the removal of Gov. Newsom. If about 1.5 million of those signatures are deemed valid, a recall election would be scheduled later this year.
If the measure qualifies, California voters would be asked two questions: Should Newsom be recalled and if so, who should succeed him? If a majority of voters approves the recall, the top vote-getter among a series of candidates would become governor.
An earlier statewide poll released Monday by the Public Policy Institute of California found that 56 percent of California voters surveyed oppose the recall, while 40 percent plan to vote yes if it reaches the ballot.
Newsom has portrayed the recall as a partisan scheme by Republicans to drive him from office in the middle of his term because they cannot win statewide office during a regularly scheduled election.
So far former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer leads a small field of wouldbe successors, all of whom are Republicans. However, 61 percent of respondents said they have yet to make up their mind about who they would support to replace Newsom.
According to the SurveyUSA findings, Faulconer is supported by 18 percent of voters. John Cox, who was badly beaten by Newsom in the 2018 election, recorded 7 percent support.
Richard Grenell, who was the director of national intelligence in the Trump administration and served as former San Diego Mayor Susan Golding’s press secretary in the 1990s, received 6 percent support and Pasadena businessman Major Williams collected 4 percent support.
Four other candidates received 1 percent support or lower, the survey found.
The poll was conducted between Monday and Wednesday and included interviews with 600 adults. Of those, 529 people were identified as registered voters.
The survey also asked respondents about Newsom’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has only recently begun to recede after more than a year of quarantines, mask mandates and the closures of schools and businesses.
The results were sharply divided.
Thirty-six percent of San Diego County respondents said the coronavirus restrictions went too far; 20 percent said they did not go far enough and 34 percent said they were just about right.
Just over one-third, 35 percent, said the reopening of businesses, schools and venues is happening at about the right pace.
Four out of 10 respondents said they have been vaccinated against the virus, including 84 percent of seniors. Among those who have not yet received vaccinations, 61 percent said they plan to get the shots.