In recent months, California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has been acting a lot like a presidential candidate-in-waiting. He’s set up fundraising committees. He’s visited key battleground states. He’s hosted national political players on his podcast. He’s mocked President Trump on social media. And he’s convinced the California Legislature to “fight fire with fire” by matching Texas’s partisan redistricting push.

“It’s not about whether we play hardball anymore,” the governor recently told his fellow Democratic officials. “It’s about how we play hardball.”

And now Newsom’s new brand of hardball has coincided with a rise in poll support — and a boost to his own political brand.

According to the latest Yahoo/YouGov poll, Newsom has surged to the front of the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential primary pack, with 21% of registered Democratic voters and registered voters who lean Democratic now picking him as their preferred nominee.