Gavin Newsom generates skepticism and criticism among Democrats after inviting Charlie Kirk to the first episode of his new podcast

California Gov. Gavin Newsom generated widespread criticism and skepticism among Democratic and independent voters after debuting his new podcast, "This is Gavin Newsom," and bringing on conservative activist Charlie Kirk as his first guest.

Newsom, who touted his podcast as a space to talk to political adversaries as well as people he admires, was harshly criticized by progressive columnists and analysts who described the episode as the political death of the Democratic governor. He is one of the contenders that could take advantage of the leadership drift of his party to try to win the presidential candidacy for 2028.

For example, Mark Barabak, a Los Angeles Times columnist, titled his article: "With friends like Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk, Newsom may talk himself to political death."

However, beyond the criticism from the progressive mainstream media, which treated the California governor harshly, Democratic and independent voters in California received Newsom's podcast in different ways, including much skepticism, criticism and mild positive comments.

According to an extensive analysis by Paul Mitchell of Capitol Weekly, a sample of 300 people gave the podcast 30% positive feedback before the first episode was released. Twenty-two percent were neutral, and 47% were negative.

After the first episode with Kirk was released, Newsom was criticized for being too complimentary of the conservative activist. Positive comments dropped to 25%, neutral comments stood at 38%, and negative comments dropped to 36%.

According to Mitchell, Democrats were initially most enthusiastic about about Newsom's podcast idea, praising the governor for trying to build bridges and converse with the other political side. Only a minority saw it as a "hypocritical" attempt to position himself as a moderate and to promote himself for the 2028 presidential campaign.

However, after the first episode, Democrats clearly received the podcast more hostilely, reducing positive comments and even raising the number of people positioning themselves in a neutral camp about the show.

"There was a definite strain among Democrats and Independents in particular of disgust that Newsom would platform Kirk, with statements like 'Disgusting,' 'Despicable,' 'Charlie Kirk is trash' coming from Democratic voters," Mitchell wrote in a lengthy analysis of the podcast's impact. "And one Independent voter saying 'Charlie Kirk is a Nazi and should never be addressed at all, much less given any platform, in any context, ever'."

According to Mitchell, Republicans, in general, also shifted their stance slightly. Before the first episode, the vast majority reacted hostilely against the Democratic governor and his new program. After the episode, the stance was also negative, but bordering on skeptical, as most felt that Newsom was simply being "hypocritical" or "disingenuous" with Kirk.

Even Kirk joked about Newsom's attitude during the podcast: "Governor Newsom was being overly-effusive in his praise of me."

Among Democrats, the praise for Kirk definitely didn't go well for Newsom at all.

According to Mitchell, when respondents were asked whether Newsom's praise of Kirk "is showing a bipartisanship or openness to other political ideas."

"Even among Democrats, who had the best response toward Newsom, only 40% agreed and 60% disagree," the analyst explained.

When Newsom also took issue with the woke culture by criticizing terms like "Latinx," showing himself open to positioning himself as a moderate candidate, he also did not get a good reception from any political group. Democrats, with exceptions, viewed him negatively, independents reacted skeptically and Republicans believed the governor was playing political opportunism.

"Sentiment Analysis of the responses ranked the comments on this video as 57% negative, 21% neutral and 20% positive," Mitchell detailed.

Finally, although he tried to portray himself as moderate, Newsom only got 13% of respondents to say they had improved their opinion of the governor. In contrast, twice as many, 26%, worsened their opinion of the Democratic leader.

Another 24% of voters said the podcast made Newsom look more moderate and 58% said their perception stayed the same.