Frustration with health restrictions galvanized the opposition to Newsom and led to the failed attempt to remove him. But Newsom ended up making his pandemic response the centerpiece of his campaign, warning that Republicans would undo his first-in-the-nation school mask mandate if they ousted him.

That proved to be a good bet, with an NBC News exit poll showing large majorities of California recall voters supporting his approach…

Patrick Murray, who runs the nonpartisan Monmouth University poll, which released a national survey on Covid mandates this week, said there is broad support for mandates across the country, even in places far less liberal than California.

“When we broke out red states and blue states by the (2020) presidential vote, it was in the majority in both types of states,” he said. “That suggests that independent voters or swing voters in those states are unhappy with the Republican stance on dealing with the pandemic.”