New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's poll numbers continue to slide
into the murky depths.
Only 35 percent of registered voters in the Garden State say they approve of the Republican governor’s job performance in the Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind survey, compared to 51 percent who disapprove. Those figures mark the lowest approval and highest disapproval ratings recorded by the survey center. In January, 39 percent said they approved of his performance and 47 percent did not.
Those are truly terrible numbers. Chris Christie's going to be plenty steamed when he gets back from Iowa, or London, or wherever he's gone off to this time around.
As far as Christie himself, public opinion appears to be mixed. Thirty-five percent of voters responded that they dislike everything about the governor, while just 8 percent said they dislike him but favor his policies. At the same time, 29 percent responded that they like everything about the governor and 21 percent said they like the man but not his policies.
The takeaway from this is that the more time Christie spends on the proto-presidential circuit, the less people like him—at least people in his own state, the ones who have to live with Christie's newfound convictions on how pigs should be raised or other hot-button Republican issues you didn't know existed until Christie started pandering to them.
I'm not seeing any Christie path to the presidency. Perhaps there once was, but then America got to know him. Other candidates entered the race that have his credentials and his policy notions but who are more skilled at personal interactions than Gov. Shut Up. That ship has sailed, and Christie realistically has to know that.