Christie strongly favored for reelection, voters still lukewarm on 2016 bid

Chris Christie's the most popular Governor PPP's polled on all year, and he looks pretty safe for reelection next year. But New Jersey voters still aren't sold on him as a Presidential candidate in 2016.

67% of New Jersey voters approve of the job Christie's doing to only 25% who disapprove. He's at 91/8 among Republicans, 65/28 among independents, and 56/32 even among Democrats. Christie's standing outpaces outgoing New Hampshire Governor John Lynch whose 62% approval rating had previously made him the most popular in our polling. 89% of voters approve of how Christie handled Hurricane Sandy to only 9% who disapprove.

Christie would far outpace any of the Democrats who have been discussed as potential candidates for Governor. He leads Cory Booker 50-36, Richard Codey 53-31, Steve Sweeney 57-20, and Barbara Buono 60-20. Against Sweeney and Buono Christie actually wins the Democratic vote, something I don't think PPP has ever found a candidate in any contest we've ever polled doing across party lines. We threw Bruce Springsteen into the poll just for fun and despite a 54/23 favorability rating even he trails Christie by a 61/25 margin in a hypothetical match up.

Booker is the clear first choice of Democrats for who they'd like as their candidate next year. 46% pick him to 23% for Codey with Buono at 7% and Sweeney at 6% far behind.

Despite Christie's massive popularity only 38% of voters in the state want him to run for President in 2016 compared to 44% who don't want to see him make a bid. Christie would trail Hillary Clinton 52-40 in a hypothetical match up among New Jersey voters, although he would lead Joe Biden 47-41 and Andrew Cuomo 50-35. That's not really a knock on Christie so much as it is a testament to Clinton's popularity- 67% of voters in the state see her favorably to only 27% with a negative view.

48% of Republicans say Christie would be their top choice for President in 2016. The only other two potential contenders in double digits are Marco Rubio at 14% and Jeb Bush at 10%. Paul Ryan at 7%, Condoleezza Rice at 6%, Rand Paul at 5%, Mike Huckabee at 3%, and Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum each at 1% round out the field.

Clinton's the clear top choice on the Democratic side with 58% of voters preferring her to 12% each for Joe Biden and Andrew Cuomo and 6% for Elizabeth Warren with no one else rising above 2%. In a Clinton and Bidenless field Cuomo leads with 37% to 14% for Warren, 4% for Deval Patrick, 3% for Martin O'Malley, 2% for Mark Warner, and 1% for Brian Schweitzer.

Full results here

Comments

[Joe Quinn]

The reason most people in NJ don't want him to run for POTUS is b/c they don't want him to leave NJ!