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A Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday finds that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has a pathetic 19 percent approval rating, while a massive 77 percent of his state’s voters disapprove of him.
The administrators of the Quinnipiac University Poll said in a release that they’ve been polling for more than 20 years, and this is “the lowest approval rating ever measured for a governor” in the states they’ve surveyed.
Christie was once viewed as a political rising star and potential GOP presidential nominee, but when news of the Bridgegate scandal broke in early 2014, his popularity started to fade. He never gained serious support in his presidential bid, and made his impact on the contest in his relatively early endorsement of and sycophantic support for Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, two former Christie administration officials were convicted in charges relating to the Bridgegate scandal last month, with prosecutors arguing that they intentionally created a major traffic jam in a New Jersey town to punish the town’s mayor for refusing to support Christie’s reelection campaign.
Christie has long denied knowing anything about his aides’ efforts, but both the prosecution and the defense in the case argued in court that Christie knew about what they were doing while it was happening.
Now, Christie is term-limited, so he can’t run for governor again. But he still has a year left in office, unless he should vacate the governorship early to accept a post in the Trump administration.
However, despite Christie’s early support of Trump, reports have suggested he’s no longer viewed favorably by the president-elect and his transition team. And while it’s not up to them, New Jersey voters would prefer not to inflict Christie on the rest of the country — 69 percent said that President-elect Trump should not offer him an administration post, according to Quinnipiac.
Democrats are optimistic about reclaiming the New Jersey governorship in the November 2017 election. Former Goldman Sachs executive Phil Murphy is viewed as the establishment favorite for Democrats’ nomination, but Assembly member John Wisniewski is also making a bid. Christie’s lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, is thought to be the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.
