Should Gavin Newsom be recalled?

by Ethan Platt, staff writer

The idea of Gov. Gavin Newsom being replaced as governor has come up a lot recently. UC Berkeley's Institute of Government Studies released a poll in September showing Gavin Newsom's approval rating was 64 percent, meaning a little over half of California approves of our current governor.

I surveyed 10 Maria Carrillo High School juniors about their feelings on Gov. Newsom and whether or not he should be recalled. Out of the 10 people, three did not know enough to give a straight answer, two thought electing a new governor should be considered and five thought that Gavin Newsom should stay in office. All the students chose to remain anonymous.

“He has reacted well to the pandemic, taking big steps for public safety and keeping the pandemic under control."

We will start off with the good. The first person said, “He has reacted well to the pandemic, taking big steps for public safety and keeping the pandemic under control, even though nobody listens, but he is really trying on that front…[however,] homelessness and housing costs are through the roof, and I think he could do more to counteract that. Generally, I’m not super involved in politics, so I don’t have any super strong opinions one way or the other, but I haven’t heard anything overwhelmingly negative and I’ve heard some positive things, so all around I have a fairly positive opinion of him, but that could be subject to change if anything happens between now and the time of the elections.” 

I agree that Newsom did have a very quick response to the pandemic and that this in turn slowed the virus spread a lot.

Another student said, “I don't really like Newsom. Since my father was a firefighter in SF, he had to deal with Newson when he was the mayor and has told me countless stories about how he is a ‘crook,’ and I do not blame him for thinking that. He has never really [seemed] like he has cared about issues such as homelessness and instead just tries to cover up all our state's issues for short term solutions instead of fixing things long term.”

The reason that firefighters for example would not like Gavin Newsom very much would be because there are a lot of homeless people in cities in California. The person quoted above’s father often dealt with calls that would involve homeless people in San Francisco. Seeing lots of homeless people daily could definitely push someone to question why the person who is in charge of our state has not really helped this too much. I also think that the fact that not much has been done with helping holmlessness is bad and Newsom should focus on fixing or reducing homelessness.

He has never really [seemed] like he has cared about issues such as homelessness and instead just tries to cover up all our state's issues for short term solutions instead of fixing things long term.”

On the flipside, someone who is for Newsom had this to say: “I think Gavin Newsom is a very effective governor. He certainly made a mistake by dining inside at the French Laundry. However, I don’t believe it is reasonable to ignore his policies or past actions.” 

For those who do not know, the French Laundry incident was a dinner party that Newsom attended during a surge in coronavirus cases. During this time, he had told people not to meet with families during the holiday season.

On the other hand, a reason that people would approve of Newsom is because he jumped on the Covid-19 lockdown situation very quickly and it appears to have reduced the spread significantly, although there are plenty of arguments that he went overboard.

I disagree with Newsom’s choice to go to that dinner. The fact that our own Governor who had been telling people not to meet decided to meet just comes off as silly and childish, almost as if he believes he is above his own rules.

Another student who disagreed with Newsom had two separate statements given on two separate days. “From what I know about him he seems like a decent guy to say the least. The event where he broke his own stay at home order was unacceptable and makes me wonder more about his character. I definitely don't know everything about him, but I'm a little cautious about him. I wish he was more outspoken and ambitious, but he is working on the right goals in my opinion.” And in the other, they said, “OK, due to recent news, [I don't know] if it's too late to change, [but] Gavin Newsom doesn't seem to have a strong grasp on his values. I feel as though he's just trying to do what the people want and not what's in the best interest of the people.” From looking at this, it appears that this person at first sided with Newsom, but after seeing things recently, has decided they are not 100 percent for him. 

I agree with this second quote. I do not believe that a lot of what Nerwsom has done has shown that he is for helping the people and that needs to change if he will continue being governor.

In the end, the statistics were similar to the California poll although instead of a little more than half approving only half approved. From this we can surmise that people should be more informed on the events going on in our world and the people who run it. If the two people who did not know much about Newsom and could not give an answer had known more the statistics would have turned out differently.

For me, if Newsom can’t follow his own advice and doesn’t do more to help the homeless, he’s got to go.