Garden State says Christie should resign; would make a bad president [View all]

West Long Branch, N.J. – Gov. Chris Christie has officially thrown his hat into the ring, but his home state of New Jersey is not squarely behind him. The latest Monmouth University Poll, taken after Christie’s presidential announcement, found that the governor’s negative job ratings have not budged from two months ago. A large majority feels that Christie has abandoned his commitment to the state and few say he is a good fit for the Oval Office.

Just 27% of New Jerseyans say Chris Christie would make a good president. More than two- thirds (69%) say he would not. A few months ago, Christie was asked on national TV about similar poll results. He responded that survey participants told pollsters he would not make a good president because “a lot of those people...want me to stay.” Monmouth followed up with the participants in our poll and found that just 5% of those who said he would not make a good president say they gave that response because they would rather have Christie stay in New Jersey. Fully 89% of this group, though, confirmed that their answer meant they really think he would make a bad president.

“I’m not sure how the governor defines ‘a lot,’ but any common sense usage of the term would have to be significantly greater than five percent,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Gov. Christie’s current job rating stands at 36% approve to 58% disapprove among all New Jersey residents and 34% approve to 60% disapprove among the state’s registered voters. These numbers are slightly more negative than a Monmouth University Poll taken two months ago which gave Christie a 35% to 54% rating among all residents and a 35% to 56% rating among voters. Fully 3-in-4 (76%) say he is more concerned about his own political future than he is with governing the state – up from 70% two months ago and 56% last September. Just 17% say he puts New Jersey first.

more (links to pdf)

http://www.monmouth.edu/assets/0/32212254770/32212254991/32212254992/32212254994/32212254995/30064771087/9e7f8eae-6ec3-41f4-a1a8-34f21ebca0e3.pdf