Gavin Newsom Recall Campaign Fails to Gain Traction Among Democrats, New Poll Shows

The campaign to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom has yet to gain traction among Democrats in the state, according to a new poll.

The poll, which was conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, found that just 11 percent of Democrats in the state said that they would vote to recall Newsom if the special recall election was held today, compared with 86 percent that said they would vote to keep him.

Among other political party affiliations, the poll found 78 percent of Republicans and 47 percent of independents saying they'd vote to recall Newsom.

Overall, 40 percent of likely voters in the state said they'd vote to recall Newsom if the election was held today, while 57 percent said the opposite.

While the number of overall voters in favor of recalling Newsom has remained at 40 percent since March, the number of Democrats supporting the recall has decreased by 4 percent. A poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California in March found 15 percent of Democrats supported the effort to remove Newsom from office.

The poll surveyed 1,074 likely voters in California from May 9 to May 18 and reported a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

The poll's findings come shortly after the California secretary of state announced that the recall effort had garnered enough signatures to place the recall measure on the ballot for a special election.

On May 5, the recall campaign, RecallGavin2020, announced that the 1,719,943 petition signatures were certified as valid by the California secretary of state.

"Democracy reigns in California. Today, We the People of California celebrate the millions of people who took the recall campaign of California Governor Gavin Newsom into their own hands," Orrin Heatlie, chief proponent and chairman of the California Patriot Coalition—Recall Gavin Newsom, said in a statement on May 5.

While the California secretary of state's office confirmed the number of petition signatures surpassed the 1.495 million needed to place the measure on the ballot, voters in the state have until June 8 to withdraw their signature. After June 8, county election officials will have until June 22 to report the number of withdrawn signatures. If the number of signatures after June 22 remains above the number needed, the recall election will go on and will likely take place in the fall.

In response to the poll's findings, Eric Early, counsel for RecallGavin202, told Newsweek that "the campaign hasn't kicked off in full force, not remotely."

"We'll probably be seeing more and more advertising up and down this state; television, radio, social media, and none of that has kicked into high-gear yet," Early told Newsweek. "At the end of the day, it's not the polls that vote it's the people that vote."

As the effort to recall effort has continued to gain traction in California, a number of new candidates have announced they will run against Newsom in the special recall election. Some of the names include Caitlyn Jenner, former California congressman Rep. Doug Ose and businessman John Cox.