Forget Pennsylvania. Can Tom Corbett Win Republicans?

We’ve noted before the soft support that Gov. Tom Corbett has from his fellow Republicans as he seeks re-election, but Reuters has gone ahead and dug a little deeper into the story.

Trailing Democrat Tom Wolf in polls, Corbett has one of the lowest rates of party support of any incumbent, analysts say. If Corbett fails to win a second term, he would become the state’s first incumbent governor to do so, a blow to Republican prestige at a time when the party is eager to make comeback on the national and state levels.

“His own party is walking away from him,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, which recently showed 22 percent of Republicans deserting Corbett to vote for his opponent.

Corbett’s biggest hope? The magic of Chris Christie. As head of the Republican Governors Association, Christie has — in a sense — been Corbett’s biggest campaign donor, steering nearly $6 million in donations from the organization to Corbett. The New Jersey governor has also crossed the Delaware to stump for Corbett. Reuters quotes Christie at one campaign stop last week:

“I’ve worked with him now for four years, as closely as I’ve worked with any governor in America,” said Christie, who chairs the Republican Governors Association. “This man has earned and deserves your support.”

Nonetheless, Corbett remains 15-20 points behind in most polls. The election is Nov. 4.