Poll: Christie's approval rating at 15 percent, lowest for any N.J. governor

Gov. Christie's approval rating is down to 15 percent in a new Quinnipiac poll, with 81 percent of New Jersey voters disapproving.

The Republican governor's rating marks the lowest known for a New Jersey governor: Democrat Brendan T. Byrne had a 17 percent approval rating in the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll in 1977 after signing the state income tax into law. Earlier this year, Christie's approval ratings in the Quinnipiac poll ranged from 17 percent to 19 percent.

Even most fellow Republicans disapprove of Christie — 58 percent to 31 percent. And 66 percent of New Jerseyans disapprove of President Trump's performance.

As for Christie's lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, she faces an uphill battle in the race to succeed him. The Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday found Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy leading Guadagno by 55 percent to 26 percent ahead of the November election.

More than half of the voters said Guadagno's tenure as Christie's lieutenant governor had a negative impact on their impression of her, while one-third of voters said that Murphy's 23-year career at Goldman Sachs had a negative impact on their impression of him.

Both candidates are only known by about half of New Jersey voters: 50 percent said they hadn't heard enough about Guadagno to have a favorable or unfavorable opinion, compared with 47 percent who said they haven't heard enough about Murphy.

In the Legislature — which is  controlled by Democrats — 57 percent of New Jersey voters want the Democratic Party to be in power, while 29 percent said they would prefer the GOP to be in control.

The poll of 1,103 New Jersey voters was conducted from June 7 to 12 and has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.