Poll: 62% of California Voters Give Newsom's Tenure Fair or Poor Marks

California voters are giving Gov. Gavin Newsom a harsh grade on his way out the door. A new poll conducted by TrueDot with UC Berkeley’s Citrin Center and POLITICO found that 62% of registered voters rate Newsom’s eight-year tenure as only fair or poor, according to the New York Post’s California edition.

Just 36% of voters rated his overall performance good or excellent, and only 28% said they want the next governor to continue his policies, according to the survey as reported by Newsmax via Yahoo News. The Post reported that 39% rated Newsom’s performance poor, the single largest group, while only 11% called it excellent.

Gavin Newsom gets brutal exit report card as 62% of California voters are begging for a new direction: poll https://t.co/hGnG3jAuWx pic.twitter.com/cAOZCZ1Dqi

— New York Post (@nypost) October 21, 2026

The worst numbers came on the issues Californians feel every day. According to the Post, 72% of voters said Newsom handled homelessness not too well or not at all well, and 69% gave him negative marks on housing. Even among Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, 57% rated his handling of homelessness negatively, the Post reported.

Taxes and spending fared little better. Sixty percent of voters rated Newsom’s handling of taxes negatively, and more than half gave him a negative assessment on state spending, according to the Post. Voters also marked him down on artificial intelligence regulation, with 43% saying he handled it poorly and 35% saying he handled it well, according to both the Post and the Yahoo News report. Climate change was the only issue on which more voters said he did well than poorly, Yahoo News reported.

A clear majority wants a different path. According to the Post, 62% of voters said the next governor should take the state in a new direction, compared with 28% who want Newsom’s policies continued. Among independents and other voters, 76% wanted a change and just 11% favored continuing his approach, the Post reported. Fewer than half of Democrats and Democratic leaners, 49%, said the next governor should generally keep his policies, according to the same report.

Newsom’s office brushed off the results. “Gavin Newsom overwhelmingly won five elections in eight years and is the most popular outgoing governor in the history of PPIC polling the question,” spokesperson Izzy Gardon said in a statement quoted by both outlets. “It’s a shame America’s Favorite Governor can’t run for another term — he’d crush it!”

California Republican Party chairwoman Corrin Rankin saw it differently. “When 62% of Californians are unsatisfied with him, it’s easy to see that his presidential aspirations will be taking a ride on California’s high-speed rail to nowhere,” Rankin told the Post, adding that the state leads the nation in problems including poverty and cost of living.

The poll also shows the frustration has not yet translated into the governor’s race. Democrat Xavier Becerra, who praised Newsom during the primary, holds a 20-point lead over Republican Steve Hilton, according to the Yahoo News report. TrueDot founder Jon Cohen said Becerra “basically wins everyone,” including the third of the electorate that wants continuity and nearly a third of those who want change, Yahoo News reported.

There is also a gap between voters and Sacramento insiders. A parallel POLITICO survey of political and policy influencers found a slight majority said Newsom performed well overall, according to Yahoo News, a sharp contrast with the voters who live with the results.

The voter survey interviewed 1,149 registered voters, including 909 likely voters, online in English and Spanish from Oct. 9 to 14, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 points for registered voters, according to Yahoo News.

With Newsom widely expected to eye a 2028 White House bid, the numbers give his critics a ready-made scorecard from his own state’s voters.

Sources

• New York Post: Californians blast Gavin Newsom’s performance as governor in devastating new poll
• Yahoo News (Newsmax): Poll: Calif. Voters Tiring of Newsom but Seem Wary of Change
• New York Post on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.