make a historical comparison because everyone was saying that maybe we ll get a repeat of the 2003 recall where schwarzenegger then became the governor. but look at this, arnold schwarzenegger s favorable rating in the 2003 recall was 51%. elder very unpopular, very different than where we were 18 years ago when air tolrnold schwarzenegger was above water. and so this recall picked up steam really with covid issues and surrounding governor newsom s policies on covid. what did voters say about that? feelings on the governor s coronavirus policies and the recall vote, newsom s policies are about right or not actually strict enough, 63% of voters felt that way. 63. and of those who felt that way, how did they vote on the recall? 85% of them voted no. larry elder tried to make such an issue arguing that the
he did handily defeat the recall vote. republicans did not put any dent in his level of support. he may emerge from this ordeal even stronger politically. wait until you see the numbers. for democrats nationally it s not that newsom won in california, it s how he won. by focusing almost singularly on the pandemic as his closing message. he got an assist from president biden who rallied supporters saying newson was a critical part of his plan to beat the delta variant and how important the issue was in turning out democrats. a sizable result view the covid vaccine as a public health responsibility and not a choice. the margin on this question is virtually identical to the overall margin in the recall vote. take note to any republicans in bluish or purplish states running on the idea that it is a choice.
tonight, new developments in the nationwide search for a missing long island native who lived in north port, florida. she disappeared on a trip with her boyfriend. he s now a person of interest. they said he drove home alone ten days before her family reported her missing. they last heard from her in wyoming. and gavin newsom is keeping his job, defeating the republican-led recall vote in a landside, saying the no vote on the recall was a yes vote on his handling of the pandemic. top challenger radio host larry elder conceding the battle but saying, quote, we certainly are going to win the war. the failed recall vote cost that state 3$300 million. when we come back tonight, robin roberts with poet and activist amanda gorman. and later, that launch just minutes away. to walk on the bea. i have two daughters
bringing the magic, phil, about what happened in this race. i think the results and what we re seeing pretty revealing. yeah, no question about it. let s start with this baseline, going into this recall election if republicans or those supported the yes, the recall vote, wanted to win, they needed to walk a very, very fine line. and here is why. take a look just to start before we dig into the data. republican voters in terms of registration, once at 36%, now just 24% in the state. democrats have a two to one registration advantage in the state. if you want to see how the state has been going just over the course of the last couple cycles, gavin newsom back in 2018 very, very sizable victory. president biden, back in 2020, nearly 30-point victory. there s a big hill to climb. however, they thought it was possible looking at the polling the last couple weeks, perhaps there was a pathway there, democratic apathy, there was no pathway at all. look at where things stand, 79% and 2.5 mill
we have to make sure people feel secure about their vote, make it easy to vote and harder to cheat. these states are ensuring the security of our elections is something that is critically important moving forward. todd: usually the person who admits something goes to jail, not in this case. jillian: still to come, mike huckabee enjoins fox and friends first . todd: let s check with what is going on on fox and friends . having trouble sleeping, watching this commercials. hope he took some nexium. coming up the next three hours and 10 minutes as governor gavin newsom survives the recall vote we will hear from business owners who fear his win will encourage more covid restrictions. and senator tom cotton and rand paul will join us to hold the biden administration accountable.