New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has had better times in office.
Christie, who is assumed to soon launch his 2016 presidential campaign for the Republican nomination, now has an approval rating of 30 percent, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind poll released Tuesday.
This rating — coupled with a 55 percent disapproval rating — is far below what any presidential aspirant should have. His numbers have taken a considerable slide since the same poll last April, in which 36 percent approved of what he was doing, compared to 50 percent who did not.
“The good news is that none of his potential presidential opponents have emerged with a decisive lead yet. The bad news is that he is the governor in a state where a sizable majority give a thumbs down to his leadership,” Krista Jenkins, professor of political science and director of PublicMind, said.
The numbers only get worse for Christie when respondents were asked more detailed questions. Thirty-nine percent say they dislike both Christie and his policies, compared to 25 percent who say they like him and his policies. This gap between those who like everything versus those who dislike everything about the governor is the largest it has been since PublicMind began asking the question.
Some good news: those who say their opinion of Christie has changed for the worse since he took office (42 percent) is about equal with those who say their opinion has remain unchanged (41 percent). More than one-in-10 (13 percent) say they’ve grown to like Christie more over the years.
New Jersey voters also are displeased with their state legislature. Just 24 percent approve of the job it is doing, compared to 44 percent who disapprove.
The telephone-based poll of roughly 800 registered New Jersey voters was conducted June 15-21 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
