Republican Caitlyn Jenner, a former Olympic gold medal winning decathlete turned transgender rights activist and nationally known TV personality, has announced a possible run for California Governor, should the current Democratic Governor, Gavin Newsom, loses his coming recall election this fall.
Jenner gets little credit from either Republicans or Democrats, according to favorability numbers in the latest Economist/YouGov poll, but she has higher name recognition than the current California Governor.
While Newsom gets mixed evaluations from respondents in the West, a region dominated in any poll by Californians, Jenner receives decidedly negative reviews. Westerners are split on their opinion of Newsom (38% have a favorable view, compared to 39% with an unfavorable view) but most (58%) have a negative view of Jenner. Just one-quarter (27%) have a very or somewhat favorable view of the media personality.
By 44% to 22%, Democrats nationwide favor the Democratic Governor of California. Three in five (61%) Democrats have a negative view of Jenner, who considers herself a conservative but did not vote in the 2020 presidential election.
Republicans overall carry an unfavorable view of both individuals. Most Republicans have a negative view of Jenner (57%), though about three in 10 Republicans (29%) have a favorable perspective. By 18% to 54%, Republicans are more negative than positive about California’s current leader.
See the toplines and crosstabs from this Economist/YouGov poll
Methodology: The Economist survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 US Adult Citizens interviewed online between May 8 - 11, 2021. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the US Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 Presidential vote, registration status, geographic region, and news interest. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all US citizens. The margin of error is approximately 2.7% for the overall sample
Image: Getty
