According to Real Clear Politics, a “perfect storm” is brewing in California that could dramatically turn liberal Governor Gavin Newsom out of office in a recall election. But on the networks, you wouldn’t know that the polls have tightened yet again. ABC, CBS and NBC on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning ignored a brand new Los Angeles Times/UC Berkeley poll showing the “yes to recall” sentiment has risen to its highest level.
Fox News on Wednesday covered the big news as host Bill Hemmer explained, “It is getting very interesting in California. New poll shows the radio host Larry Elder emerging as the Republican frontrunner in a race to recall the Democratic governor Gavin Newsom and strong support for ousting the Democrat. Here are the numbers: Forty seven percent of likely voters back the effort. Fifty percent are against it.”
Considering that the amount of people who support the recall has risen from 36, to 40, to 43, to now 47, this is a real trend. Yet, the networks are burying the story. On Fox, Real Clear Politics founder Tom Bevan called it a brewing "perfect storm."
Shaping up to be potentially a perfect storm against Gavin Newsom. Republicans only a quarter of the state's voters, Democrats are almost 50 percent. Republicans are way more energized to turn out and vote to recall the governor and this race is going to take place on September 14th. That’s a week after Labor Day. So if Democrats do not turn out and Republicans do, it could be a situation all they need is 50 plus one to get Gavin Newsom out of office.
On March 17, CBS This Morning DID notice the recall as the signature effort surged past 1.5 million. But reporter Carter Evans fretted to one of the recall leaders: “Is there a concern that this recall is being hijacked solely to get a Republican in office in a fairly Democratic state?”
On April 27, ABC’s Good Morning America echoed a similar theme as Matt Gutman worried, “This morning, California's Governor Gavin Newsom facing that Republican-led effort to oust him from office.”
Recall day is on September 14. The networks should be forced to cover this important story as the race continues to tighten.
The censoring of the California recall was sponsored on ABC’s Good Morning America by Carmax, on CBS This Morning by Hyundai, on NBC’s Today by Jeep. Click on the links to let them know what you think.
A partial transcript is below.
America’s Newsroom
7/28/2021
BILL HEMMER: It is getting very interesting in California. New poll shows the radio host Larry Elder emerging as the Republican frontrunner in a race to recall the Democratic governor Gavin Newsom and strong support for ousting the Democrat. Here are the numbers. Forty seven percent of likely voters back the effort. Fifty percent are against it. However, reading into the numbers intriguing things developing. Tom Bevan, co-founder, editor of Real Clear Politics. How are you doing? You read numbers for a living here.
I will give you the leading Republicans. Elder 18 percent, John Cox 10, Faulkner 10, undecided 40 percent. The state of the race in California is thus: Republicans only make up a quarter of the vote in that state but the enthusiasm here on the recall is sky high. So what's moving right now after a Berkeley poll and an L. A. Times poll shows Republicans have more strength, I think, than a lot of people thought?
TOM BEVAN: That's basically it, right? Shaping up to be potentially a perfect storm against Gavin Newsom. Republicans only a quarter of the state's voters, Democrats are almost 50 percent. Republicans are way more energized to turn out and vote to recall the governor and this race is going to take place on September 14th. That’s a week after Labor Day. So if Democrats do not turn out and Republicans do, it could be a situation all they need is 50 plus one to get Gavin Newsom out of office and the question turns to who will replace him? Larry Elder is leading that. With 40 percent of folks saying they're undecided right now.
...
BEVAN: You also have a story out this morning about Gavin Newsom's kids. They were at a summer camp unmasked while the rest of the people's kids were mandated to have masks. That recalls the stories about him at the French Laundry and the sort of lockdowns for thee and not me who dogged this governor throughout the last year and a half.
