President Newsom? Poll Puts CA Governor Ahead Of Harris In 2024

CALIFORNIA — California Gov. Gavin Newsom would do well if he decided to run for president, the most recent 2024 general election poll shows.

The Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows that Newsom could be a contender, pulling ahead of big-name potential presidential candidates such as Vice President Kamala Harris in a head-to-head matchup with Republican contenders such as former President Donald Trump. For his part, Newsom is playing coy about higher office ambitions.

The one-term governor is running for reelection in California, but his latest television ad began airing in Florida this summer. The 30-second spot aired on Fox News starting Monday, July 4. The ad takes shots at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his policies, while drawing a contrast with California.

Newsom has adamantly stated that he does not plan to run for president in 2024 despite running ads 3,000 miles away from his voters.

"I think he probably wants to run for president," Christian Grose, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California, told Patch. "I do think that he's relatively popular in California. It's not obvious to me that he would make a strong candidate and I also think it depends on what Joe Biden is doing."

The Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows an opening for Newsom.

In a hypothetical presidential race pitting Newsom against Trump, Newsom garnered 40 percent of voter support while Trump pulled 39 percent. Harris, by comparison, tied with Trump 41 percent to 41 percent. The poll showed Biden defeating Trump 42 percent to 40 percent and DeSantis 41 percent to 37 percent.

In a matchup against Newsom, the Golden State governor was ahead 39 percent to 36 percent. Alternatively, Harris beat DeSantis by four percentage points in the survey. However, a massive number of undecided voters in the Newsom-DeSantis matchup leave space for further movement in the polls as voters nationwide get to know the two governors.

The survey was conducted between June 24-27.

It remains to be seen what Newsom could do with a national stage, but some experts speculate that he could become a viable contender.

"He’s got a huge constituency because he’s the governor of the most populous state," James Carville, a former Bill Clinton strategist, told Politico. "He’s got an enormous fundraising base and a lot of delegates there."

Hypothetically, if Biden chose not to run in 2024, some suspect Newsom could be among the first to step up to the plate.

"He looks like a million dollars," John Morgan, a prominent Biden bundler and attorney from Orlando, Fla. told Politico. "And he looks at the Democratic bench and he doesn’t see anyone sitting there, so he says, ‘I am going to sit there.'"

Newsom has also been quick to hop on hot-button national issues lately, vehemently backing abortion rights after the overturning of Roe v. Wade and decrying the Supreme Court for throwing out concealed weapons restrictions.

Newsom also recently joined Truth Social, Trump's new social media platform. There, he's targeted red states and their Republican leaders.

The governor's first 'truth' cited research that said the states with the highest murder rates are led by Republicans.

"My first 'truth' on Truth Social got a HUGE amount of engagement! More to come…" he wrote on Twitter last month.

Last month, Newsom sailed to an easy victory in winning the governorship after last year's recall election that threatened to unseat him. The Democratic governor will advance to the November general election, where he will be an overwhelming favorite to defeat a little-known Republican state senator.

Though Newsom sought reelection after a nail-biter of a recall election just last year, he didn't face a big-name challenger in the race for reelection. None of his recall opponents are in the race, and his primary Republican challenger looks to be Brian Dahle, a Northern California state senator.

Last year's recall election solidified Newsom's position going into 2022, with the race confirming that the Golden State is as blue as ever. Republican talk show host Larry Elder was Newsom's top contender in the recall election, but he did not challenge the governor in the primary election.