Christie's approval rating again hits new lows
Gov. Christie’s approval rating has again hit new lows. A Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll released Tuesday found the governor’s approval rating at 18 percent among registered New Jersey voters, down from 21 percent in October.
Gov. Christie's approval rating has again hit new lows.
A Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll released Tuesday found the governor's approval rating at 18 percent among registered New Jersey voters, down from 21 percent in October.
Christie's rating in a Quinnipiac University poll also released Tuesday – with 19 percent of New Jersey voters approving, and 77 percent disapproving – was the worst for any governor in any state in more than 20 years of the poll. The poll found 71 percent of voters said Christie was not honest and trustworthy.
The polls were conducted in the wake of the conviction last month of two of Christie's former aides in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure trial. In both surveys, voters doubted the governor's statements on the scandal.
In the Quinnipiac poll, 71 percent of voters said Christie knew his aides were causing the scandal, and 56 percent said the governor's personal involvement should be investigated further. Forty-eight percent of voters said Christie personally ordered the September 2013 traffic jams, compared to 43 percent who said he did not.
Of registered voters in the Fairleigh Dickinson poll who followed the trial very or somewhat closely, 71 percent believe Christie also should have been charged. That group included half of Republicans following the trial.
Gov. Christie’s Approval Rating
Both polls found a majority of Republican voters in the state disapproving of Christie: 52 percent in the Fairleigh Dickinson poll, and 53 percent in the Quinnipiac poll.
Christie's term ends in January 2018. The governor – who was an early backer of President-elect Donald Trump – said last week that he plans to complete his term, unless "something extraordinary happens in the world and my service is needed."
If Trump were asking New Jersey voters, they don't think the incoming president should give Christie a job: 69 percent in the Quinnipiac poll said Trump shouldn't make Christie an offer, compared to 24 percent who said he should.
The Quinnipiac poll of 1,318 New Jersey voters was conducted Nov. 28-Dec. 4 and has a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points. The Fairleigh Dickinson poll of 836 New Jersey voters was conducted Nov. 30-Dec. 4, with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.