N.J. poll: Most think Christie will run for president
ASBURY PARK, N.J. — New Jersey residents are increasingly certain Gov. Chris Christie will run for president and moderately concerned those aspirations are making him a less-effective governor.
Results from a new Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll show 75% of residents say Christie is planning to run in 2016, up 10 percentage points since February, and just 14% say he isn't. Of those who think he's running, 39% say his travel and planning have made him less effective as governor.
"In the past, the buzz was really a source of pride almost universally in New Jersey, whether you agreed with the governor or not," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. "Now we're starting to see a few chinks in that armor where people are saying, 'Wait a minute, is he ignoring the state?'
"By no means is this evidence of any huge groundswell of backlash against him, but it bears watching because we're entering an undecided phase for the governor," said Murray, who noted the number of people without an opinion of Christie's job performance is rising, which is unusual.
Bill Palatucci, a Republican National Committee member from New Jersey and Christie's longtime political adviser, noted that same poll question found that 9% of residents say the travel and planning make Christie more effective and 48% say it has had no impact.
"No surprise that the majority say it has no impact or makes him more effective as governor," Palatucci said.
Last December, a Monmouth/APP poll found two-thirds of people said it wouldn't bother them if Christie ran for president while serving as governor. Nineteen percent said it would bother them a lot, and 10% said it would bother them a little.
Since winning re-election last November and becoming chairman of the Republican Governors Association, Christie has traveled to 30 states.
Among registered voters, 60% say Christie has not been completely honest about what he knows about the closure of the George Washington Bridge toll lanes in Fort Lee last year, which was similar to the results of polls done in February and April.
Still, 59% of residents – and a larger 66% of registered voters – say it's time for the Legislature to end its bridge investigation. Not surprisingly, there's a partisan divide on the issue. Among Republicans, 85% say it should end. Among Democrats it's evenly split, with 46% saying the Legislature should continue and 46% saying to wind things down.
"Most people have reached the point where they believe that this was political retaliation. If it's a criminal issue, that's for the U.S. Attorney to decide," Murray said. "But the Democrats are just simply trying to make their own political hay out of this as well. There are no saints in this."
The share of residents who say Christie is more concerned with his political future than governing, 56%, has been fairly steady all year. For instance, 52% of residents said this month's trip to Mexico with business leaders was mainly to help Christie run for president, compared with 21% who said it was mainly about building trade relations.
"It's one thing when you're running for president because of the good things you do in New Jersey," Murray said. "It's another thing when it appears like you're using New Jersey as a shell to run for president."
The Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll was conducted by telephone with 802 New Jersey adults, including 680 registered voters, from Sept. 17 to 21. The total sample has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, the registered voter sample has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points, and the question about the travel's impact on Christie's effectiveness as governor has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.