President Joe Biden hailed California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s victory in Tuesday’s recall election as validation of the coronavirus pandemic policies spearheaded by the Democrat governor.
“Congratulations to Governor Gavin Newsom on defeating the recall vote,” Biden said in a statement. “This vote is a resounding win for the approach that he and I share to beating the pandemic: strong vaccine requirements, strong steps to reopen schools safely, and strong plans to distribute real medicines—not fake treatments—to help those who get sick.
“The fact that voters in both traditionally Democratic and traditionally Republican parts of the state rejected the recall shows that Americans are unifying behind taking these steps to get the pandemic behind us.”
Earlier Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Newsom’s victory over Republican opponents, including radio host Larry Elder, a win for “a science-based approach to fighting the pandemic.”
According to recent polls, approval of the president’s own handling of the coronavirus crisis is dropping.
As Breitbart News reported:
[A] survey, produced by Langer Research Associates, found Biden’s approval rating for his handling of the Chinese coronavirus dropping dramatically over the last few months, cratering from 64 percent approval in April to 52 percent in September — a double-digit drop over the summer. His disapproval on the issue has also risen by double digits over the same time period, jumping from 31 percent to 41 percent.
Their survey also noted, “Biden’s overall approval rating is just 44 percent, pulled down by criticism of his handling of the Afghanistan pullout.”
In his victory speech, Newsom declared recall voters said “Yes” to science, vaccines, and far-left political causes such as social justice and climate change.
“We said yes to science. We said yes to vaccines. We said yes to ending this pandemic. We said yes to people’s right to vote without fear of fake fraud or voter suppression,” Newsom said. “We said yes to women’s fundamental constitutional right to decide for herself what she does with her body, her fate, and her future. We said yes to diversity. We said yes to inclusion. We said yes to pluralism. We said yes to all those things that we hold dear as Californians, and I would argue, as Americans.”
“Economic justice, social justice, racial justice, environmental justice are values where California has made so much progress. All of those things were on the ballot this evening,” he added.