FDU: Only 58% of N.J. Republicans Approve of Christie’s Job Performance

The official cake at Governor Christie's Election Night 2013 party in Asbury Park.

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

The official cake at Governor Christie's Election Night 2013 party in Asbury Park.
The official cake at Governor Christie’s Election Night 2013 party in Asbury Park.

Our friend Art Gallagher recently questioned whether Trenton had, in fact, “turned Christie upside down.”

I suspect everyone reading this post has already developed a strong opinion on the subject! And nothing any blogger can say, one way or the other, is going to sway you.

But if the latest FDU PublicMind poll is accurate, Save Jerseyans, then most of those opinions are already trending in a decidedly negative direction heading into today’s State of the State address (watch here live at 2:00 p.m. EST).

Fairleigh Dickinson’s interviewers found “Governor Christie’s approval numbers upside down and virtually unchanged from October” with only 39% approving of his job performance and a full 47% disapproving.  

He isn’t without any accomplishments. Cumulatively. Governor Christie is expected to tout pension/benefits/arbitration reform, his property tax cap, and holding discretionary spending to Fiscal Year 2008 levels when he addresses the joint session of our state’s legislature this afternoon. The theme: “5 in 5.”

Is presidential politics playing a role in the dip?

The head pollster thinks so. “These numbers point to the difficulty the governor is likely to have with the public as the clock moves toward 2016,” opined Krista Jenkins, professor of political science and director of PublicMind. “Governing and campaigning are both full time jobs. Even though he’s technically not doing the latter yet, the public seems to believe he’s already starting to give up on the former.”

Even Republicans seem to support Professor Jenkins’s thesis.

A shockingly narrow majority (58%) of New Jersey GOP’ers polled by FDU currently approve of their governor’s efforts. Perspective? 86% of Republicans polled by FDU approved of Chris Christie’s job performance immediately after Hurricane Sandy struck our coastline in October 2013; he had fallen back to earth, to 66% approval, by March 2014 (about two months into the Bridgegate scandal).

It’s hard to say exactly how much approval at home will impact a national campaign. To borrow a Facebook-ism, “it’s complicated.” Still, having almost half of your own party (in your own state) questioning your abilities is NOT where any ambitious politician wants to be. 

“Declining support is normal for any second term governor, especially a Republican in a blue state. And yet, given the governor’s obvious political ambitions, waning support outside his party faithful makes him a tougher sell to voters outside the state who are looking for a bridge builder,” added Jenkins.

What would help?

Like I’ve been arguing, the Governor should use today’s State of the State address to get back to big, common sense, conservative ideas. A statewide pilot voucher program, for starters? Something that cuts across party/gender/geographic/ethnic lines? And would immediately grab the attention – and contest the affections – of national opinion-drivers who are going to play a big role in the 2016 primaries.

 

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8403 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.

6 Comments

  1. While he sure as hell didn’t get my votes in the Primaries, he was still the best option in the Generals……………..sad as that may be.

  2. Of course, Democrats deliberately chose a radical-left unelectable candidate to run against Christie to guarantee that Christie would win by big margin, and Christie agreed to let Sweeney Democrats keep control of State Senate and Assembly.

  3. The fix was in long ago. Christie made his deals with the devilish Norcross/DiVincenzo/Stack Democrat Axis of Evil and Corruption in exchange for their endorsements and support. Only now are Republicans starting to see through the mirage. Fortunately we have Tea Party Tested And Approved presidential candidates like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul who will make sure GOP primary voters in other states don’t get fooled like New Jersey GOP primary voters in 2009 and 2013.

  4. Christie has been successful in getting Republicans elected in other states. He concentrated on this so that he could have a chance to run for President. He ceded New Jersey (especially South Jersey) to the Dems years ago knowing full well that New Jersey would never elect a Republican for president. The Republicans in New Jersey are on their own.

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