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WHY GAVIN NEWSOM’S PODCAST IS A POLITICAL DISASTER  
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Gil Duran
March 18, 2025
FrameLab
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_ Gavin Newsom's effort to go upside-down has harmed his public
standing. The upside of his venture is that provides, in hard numbers
and immediate practical implications, a lesson for Democrats. _

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We often hear it said that Democratic leaders must embrace Republican
positions and move towards the mythical “middle” in politics. Now,
thanks to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, we have more DEFINITIVE
PROOF that it DOESN'T WORK.

This month, Newsom tried to rebrand himself as a MAGA-friendly
Democrat by launching a podcast, _This Is Gavin Newsom_, in which he
lavishes praise on extremist Republican figures like Charlie Kirk and
Steve Bannon. While some conservatives have praised Newsom’s podcast
pivot as clever, the reality is that he may have dealt a fatal blow to
his political ambitions.

THERE’S DATA TO PROVE IT. California political analyst Paul
Mitchell conducted a poll and sentiment analysis to gauge
Californians’ responses to Newsom’s podcast pivot. The results are
brutal.

Main Takeaway: NEWSOM'S PODCAST PIVOT WAS A POLITICAL FACEPLANT. HIS
NET FAVORABILITY DROPPED BY 10 POINTS after the release of the
podcast. From Mitchell’s op-ed in _The Capitol Weekly_
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The negative impact on Newsom’s popularity with voters is clearly
visible in this survey. Newsom’s favorability in our last survey,
done the first week of February of this year, had his total
favorability at 52%, with 48% unfavorable, for a net favorability
(favorable minus unfavorable) of +4. Notably, his “very favorable”
was at 25%.

In this survey, his favorability has dropped to 47%, with his “very
favorable” dropping to 18% and his net favorable going to -6, for a
10-point drop in net favorability.

Among self-identified liberals, 37% said that these snippets of the
Newsom podcast harmed their perception of the Governor, and among
these voters the Governor’s “very favorable” number has dropped
from 46% to 30%.

Even worse for Newsom: He didn’t fool any Republicans:

Their vitriol toward Newsom was not something he could penetrate,
being described as “fake”, “pandering” and “a liar,” with
a general distrust of his sincerity, and seeing it as a “conniving
political play.”

CA 120: Gavin’s podcast - Presidential run or empire Click here to
read Paul Mitchell's analysis in _The Capitol Weekly_
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Newsom’s podcast pivot disaster highlights the pitfalls of Democrats
adopting Republican positions to appeal to a broader electorate. Such
strategies often backfire, leading to unintended consequences:

* ALIENATION OF CORE SUPPORTERS: Democratic candidates who adopt
conservative rhetoric risk losing support from their base and making
voters FEEL BETRAYED.
* NO SIGNIFICANT GAINS AMONG CONSERVATIVES: Republican voters are
unlikely to shift their allegiance based on Democrats adopting
conservative stances, as party loyalty and ideological consistency
remain strong.​
* A STRONG STENCH OF INAUTHENTICITY: Politicians who cynically
shift political positions come off as FAKE and UNTRUSTWORTHY.
Voters want their leaders to seem AUTHENTIC, not like poll-driven
concoctions designed to please whatever audience they're addressing.

These insights should serve as a cautionary tale for Democrats
considering a shift toward Republican positions for cynical or
strategic reasons.

NEWSOM'S SELF-INFLICTED DISASTER

Newsom launched _This Is Gavin Newsom_ to rebrand himself as a
different kind of Democrat – one who could span political divides by
finding common ground with the opposition. It didn’t work. Instead,
Newsom came off as servile, weak, and inauthentic. He effusively
praised Charlie Kirk more than 125 times, according to Mitchell’s
analysis:

It was so much that even Kirk, on his podcast following the Newsom
interview, stated “Governor Newsom was being overly-effusive in his
praise of me
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and then he subsequently rolled right into his repeated attacks on the
Governor for ruining the State of California.

The political fallout for Newsom was immediate:

* LGBTQ ORGANIZATIONS condemned his remarks as a betrayal.
* DEMOCRATS AND PROGRESSIVE ACTIVISTS blasted him for legitimizing
right-wing talking points.
* REPUBLICANS MOCKED HIM as weak and desperate.
* MAINSTREAM MEDIA CRITICS called the episode “full-on cringe
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Instead of broadening his appeal, Newsom alienated his own side while
gaining nothing from the right. It was a bipartisan belly flop. Only
one in five people surveyed said they wanted to watch or listen to
another episode of the podcast – a devastating review.

The Fatal Flaw in Newsom’s Strategy

Newsom’s biggest error wasn’t just giving a platform to
extremists—it was assuming that engaging with them in a friendly,
debate-club manner would win him any goodwill. Extremist Republicans
don’t care about compromise, and they haven’t for a long time.
They care about WINNING THE CULTURE WAR – AND THE MORAL WAR –
and forcing Democrats onto the defensive.

The lesson for every Democratic leader watching Newsom’s
miscalculation unfold in real time: CHASING REPUBLICAN APPROVAL IS A
LOSING STRATEGY. Instead of playing defense on conservative framing,
Democrats should be setting the terms of the debate.

A new poll
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by SSRS found that Democratic voters and independents want strong
leaders, not pushovers. From CNN:

With many in the party saying publicly that their leaders should do
more to stand up to President Donald Trump, Democrats and
Democratic-aligned independents say, 57% to 42%, that Democrats should
mainly work to stop the Republican agenda, rather than working with
the GOP majority to get some Democratic ideas into legislation.

Newsom’s podcast won’t change any minds on the right, and it
certainly won’t win him more support from progressives. If anything,
it proves that trying to appease both sides only makes you LOOK WEAK
TO EVERYONE.

The next time a Democratic politician considers slithering across the
aisle in search of a mythical middle ground, they should
remember: _This Is Gavin Newsom – _and THIS IS A POLITICAL
DISASTER.

What can _you _do?

Contact Gov. Gavin Newsom and LET HIM KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. Click
here to send a message
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And the next time you see someone arguing that Democrats must follow
MAGA to win, remind them of the lesson of _This is Gavin Newsom_.

_More articles by Gil Duran.
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_FrameLab is a newsletter about politics, language and your brain. It
was founded by Dr. George Lakoff
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FrameLab podcast)._

_Our goal with FrameLab is to help our readers understand how
political language works, and to illuminate the key frames in our
political discourse – ideological structures that are often hiding
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