Poll: N.J. Voters Don’t Think Chris Christie Would Be a Very Good President

Chris Christie is having a hard time hanging onto the support of his home state as he considers a run for the presidency.

“Nearly three in five registered voters in New Jersey do not think their governor, Republican Chris Christie, would make a good U.S. president, according to a poll released on Thursday,” Reuters reports. “Overall, 57 percent of the registered voters polled said they did not think Christie, who prides himself on his blunt, sometimes combative, speaking style, would make a good president. That included nearly a third of registered Republicans, 78 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of independents.”

Conservative website NewsBusters points to an exchange on today’s Morning Joe that indicates growing doubts about a Christie presidential run.

“You talk to people in the Republican party and they say Chris Christie is already politically dead,” host Joe Scarborough said.

“At best he’s a live man stumbling,” Politico editor Jim VandeHei added.

Noah Rothman, writing at the conservative Hot Air website, speculated today Christie might decide not to run. “If that happens, it would be a spectacular reversal of political fortunes for the figure who not long ago was presumed to be the most likely to serve as the GOP’s next presidential standard-bearer.”

At least one influential Republican is still in Christie’s corner, though. The Inquirer today carried a story about Ken Langone, the cofounder of Home Depot, a GOP donor who remains solidly in Christie’s camp.

“The American people are ready for the truth. I think one thing the governor demonstrates loud and clear is candor,” Langone told the Inky. “He has no trouble standing by his decisions and explaining why he made those decisions.”

Given the poll numbers (dig into them below), though, it might not hurt Christie to remind New Jersey voters of his virtues.

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