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California voters still don’t like how Democrats are running the state

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Faria, Z. (2026, October 7). California voters still don’t like how Democrats are running the state. Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/4757590/california-voters-democratic-party-approval-rating-2026-elections-polls/

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Washington Examiner · collected 2026-10-07 · by Zachary Faria

Quick Summary

A poll commissioned by Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton shows him trailing Democrat Xavier Becerra by less than 6 points in the upcoming California election, despite nearly 59% of Californians believing the state is headed in the wrong direction. This sentiment aligns with previous polls indicating widespread dissatisfaction among voters regarding high costs and taxes under Democratic governance, yet they continue to support Democrats at the polls. The article suggests that while a sudden shift similar to Florida’s might not occur this year, it highlights growing voter discontent and the potential for future electoral change in California.
Written by AI on 2026-10-07, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

A recent poll commissioned by GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton shows him trailing Democratic incumbent Xavier Becerra, the former Health and Human Services Secretary, by less than 6 points. However, nearly three-fourths of undecided voters would likely choose Becerra if forced to make a decision now. A poll from the Public Policy Institute of California indicates that 54% of Californians think the state is headed in the wrong direction and expect economic conditions to worsen for the state in the coming years, with 71% expecting things to get worse economically. Despite this pessimism, Becerra maintains a consistent lead over Hilton according to most polls.

Written for “California Democratic Governance Unpo…” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 California Democratic Governance Unpo…
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Bulwark
Hedges 0 of 11 claims
“The articles discuss different political contexts and voter sentiment in Michigan and California, respectively.”
Toronto Star
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 44 claims Outlet record 64/100
“The articles discuss voter sentiment towards different political parties in distinct contexts (national vs. California state elections).”
NBC News
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 54 claims Outlet record 60/100
“The articles cover different topics and do not describe the same specific incident.”
Fox News
Hedges 8 of 42 claims Outlet record 69/100
“The articles discuss different political scenarios in distinct geographical locations with separate electoral contexts.”
Los Angeles Times
Hedges 7 of 50 claims Outlet record 95/100
“Article A discusses Trump's criticism of California during his election campaign rhetoric, while Article B focuses on polls showing voter sentiment towards Democratic leadership in California.”
New York Post
Hedges 2 of 41 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A focuses on a specific incident involving accusations against Xavier Becerra's family origins narrative, while Article B discusses poll results regarding voter sentiment towards Democratic candidates in California.”
Fox News
⚖️ Leans strongly right Hedges 7 of 31 claims Outlet record 69/100
“Article A discusses a broader trend regarding potential Democratic gains in governors' mansions across the U.S., while Article B focuses specifically on voter sentiment and polling results for the upcoming gubernatorial election in California.”
New York Post
Hedges 3 of 22 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles discuss different topics: one about residents feeling forced out due to high living costs in the Bay Area, and another about voter sentiment towards Democratic candidates in California elections.”
New York Post
Hedges 1 of 26 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A discusses poll results comparing Hilton and Becerra, while Article B reports on Hilton's criticism of Becerra at an event in West Sacramento.”
Washington Examiner
⚖️ Leans strongly right Hedges 3 of 36 claims Outlet record 70/100
“The articles discuss different polls with distinct findings and implications for the election.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
15
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 15 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
70/100
Washington Examiner's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-07 · how these are computed

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Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Washington Examiner · 3879 article(s) · 7 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 7 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Zachary Faria
26 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 You may think that Chicago is a haven of violent crime.
🔮 If only the Democratic politicians who have continued to pour money into the project would do the same.
🔮 How will Xavier Becerra differ from Gavin Newsom as governor of California?
2026-10-30 · assertive framing · Becerra will be Newsom, but worse for California
🔮 Next week’s midterm elections will give voters in a couple of Democrat-run states the opportunity to roll back transgender ideology and protect children from the injustice and medical malpractice Democrats are allowing to be inflicted upon them.
🔮 Further complicating matters is that Proposition 40 could pass and still be voided by Propositions 41 and 42 if either one passes with more support than Proposition 40.
🔮 Like, that sounds fun, I might get an opportunity.’
🔮 New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has discovered that the hateful communist base he has cultivated does not care about the intricacies of governing, and he has no one to blame but himself.
2026-10-15 · assertive framing · Mamdani discovers how hateful his supporters are
🔮 Is el Sayed simply so arrogant about his chances that he thinks this won’t matter, or did he and his team not anticipate that bringing up a home Rogers owned in Florida would backfire in such a way?
2026-10-09 · assertive framing · Increasingly insulated Democrats struggle in debates
🔮 This comes with the obvious caveats: Nearly three-fourths of the 14% of voters who are undecided would choose Becerra if push came to shove, and the poll is an outlier compared to the polling average, which has Becerra consistently leading by double digits.
🔮 The matchup, which was Eden Prairie’s homecoming game, was scheduled to resume on Monday, which would force both high schools to play twice in the same week, as they have games scheduled for Friday.
2026-10-05 · assertive framing · Why does an American state have Somali gangs?
Also by Zachary Faria
Becerra will be Newsom, but worse for California
2026-10-30 · Washington Examiner
JB Pritzker lives in an alternate Illinois reality
2026-10-28 · Washington Examiner
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 26 articles by Zachary Faria →

Topics

California Californians Democratic Democrats GOP

Subjects

California GPE · 4× Californians NORP · 4× Becerra PERSON · 3× GOP ORG · 3× Democrats NORP · 2× Newsom PERSON · 2× David Wolfson PERSON · 1× Democratic NORP · 1× Hilton PERSON · 1× Steve Hilton PERSON · 1×

Narrative

A poll from the Public Policy Institute of California found Becerra with a comfortable lead, but also found that 54% of Californians think the state is headed in the wrong direction, and 71% expect things to get economically worse for the state in the coming years.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-07
🔮 This comes with the obvious caveats: Nearly three-fourths of the 14% of voters who are undecided would choose Becerra if push came to shove, and the poll is an outlier compared to the polling average, which has Becerra consistently leading by double digits.
2026-10-07 · Washington Examiner
California voters still don’t like how Democrats are running the state · assertive framing

Claims (15 extracted, 0 hedged)

Democrats are seemingly on their way to yet another round of victories in California’s elections, and yet polls continue to show that California voters disapprove of the state’s direction. asserted
voters → continue → direction
At what point does the electoral dam finally break? asserted
dam → break → ?
A poll by David Wolfson, commissioned by GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, shows Hilton trailing Democratic candidate, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, by less than 6 points. asserted
Hilton → commission → points
This comes with the obvious caveats: Nearly three-fourths of the 14% of voters who are undecided would choose Becerra if push came to shove, and the poll is an outlier compared to the polling average, which has Becerra consistently leading by double digits. asserted
Becerra → come → digits
The poll found that nearly 59% of Californians say the state is headed in the wrong direction, compared to just 28% who think it is going in the right direction. asserted
it → find → direction
A poll from the Public Policy Institute of California found Becerra with a comfortable lead, but also found that 54% of Californians think the state is headed in the wrong direction, and 71% expect things to get economically worse for the state in the coming years. asserted
things → find → years
In 2024, a poll by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, showed 57% of Californians thought the state was headed in the wrong direction, with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) approval underwater at 46% to 47%. asserted
approval → show → %
In 2022, the same polling outfit had “wrong direction” leading on the same question at 54% to 36%. asserted
outfit → have → %
Every election cycle, Californians think their state is headed in the wrong direction, thanks to exorbitantly high costs (which are higher than any other state) and ever-increasing taxes that never seem to fund the ever-growing budget. asserted
that → think → budget
And yet, those voters still can’t bring themselves to turn against the Democratic Party that has a monopoly on the state in favor. asserted
that → bring → favor
That doesn’t mean change can’t happen, and can’t happen suddenly. asserted
change → mean → ?
The margin of victory for Ron DeSantis in Florida’s gubernatorial races jumped from 0.4 points in 2018 to more than 19 points in 2022. asserted
margin → jump → 2022
In comparison, Newsom’s 2022 victory against a little-known GOP state senator was narrower in 2022 than DeSantis’s, meaning that a sudden shift in the opposite direction would result in a GOP win. asserted
shift → know → win
That win likely won’t happen this November, based on the polling, but California voters are stewing on years of dissatisfaction with how their state has been governed by Democrats. asserted
state → happen → Democrats
At some point, you expect that the dam will break. asserted
dam → expect → point
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