What Went Down At The California Recall Election: Live Results

The preliminary exit polls also say that President Biden has a 56 percent approval rating in California. It definitely helps Newsom that the president (and fellow Democrat) is holding his own in California even as he’s struggling in the polls elsewhere. It’s a sign that the Democratic brand is still strong in the state, and in today’s hyperpartisan world, that matters. In 2003, exit polls said that President George W. Bush, a Republican, had a 51 percent approval rating in California, so voters clearly weren’t too turned off about the prospect of Republican leadership, and that may have made it easier for them to vote to jettison Davis.

Mail ballots in Orange County, one of the main counties we’re watching tonight, are breaking against the recall 58 percent to 42 percent. Good chance it votes against recall even when all the votes are counted, too.