Winning With AND Without Them?

By Susanne LaFrankie | The Save Jersey Blog

Christie close upIn the fickle world of politics, Save Jerseyans, you can often measure your success or your threat factor, by your bad press.

These days Governor Chris Christie, a one-time darling of the media, should view his quick decent from problem solving mediator to school yard bully as a badge of honor.

He must be doing something right as he toys with a run for the White House in 2016.

Christie, fresh off of a 20 plus re-election victory in a very blue state is now being outed as a vindictive bully who is accused of publicly shouting at detractors, withdrawing police protection from a former Governor and even ordering the shutdown of access lanes from Fort Lee into NYC, all acts of retribution.

A recent poll may shed some light on the abrupt backlash. A new CNN/ORC International Poll shows Christie the most popular Republican contender against possible Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at 48% vs 46% respectively among registered voters. A Fox News Poll also puts The Governor well ahead of eight other top tier Republicans.

I googled the words Chris Christie Bully and got 309,000 hits. The titles were, well, not surprising: Can Chris Christie Tame His Inner BullyStories Add Up as Bully Image Trails Christie; and The Single Biggest Question for Christie, is He a Bully?

But perhaps most intriguing are the results of a recent Rutgers/Eagleton poll which showed only 34% of registered NJ voters using the word “bully” in describing Christie, but nearly three-fourths (72%) say he’s more of a “fighter.”

Possibly fueling the Christie backlash is his recent election as Chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association, a post that gives him national exposure and access to big donors. It also likely means we can count on a lot more bully headlines as 2016 approaches.

Susanne LaFrankie
About Susanne LaFrankie 22 Articles
Susanne LaFrankie is a former Philadelphia television reporter and radio talk show host. She has covered countless political campaigns, legislative proceedings, Supreme Court arguments and White House press conferences. The married mother of three teens, she has spent more then half her life living in Jersey.

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