Chris Christie’s Comeback Is Dead as His Approval Rating Plunges to a New Low

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Fox News and the Republican Party are failing the revive the corpse of Chris Christie’s political future as a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that the New Jersey governor’s national approval rating has hit a new low.

According to The Wall Street Journal:

Overall, the potential 2016 contender was viewed positively by 17% and negatively by 32% in the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. That’s a stark contrast from October, when the Republican governor was on the verge of a landslide re-election on Democratic turf and viewed positively by 33% and negatively by 17%.

Feelings about Mr. Christie have soured among independents (12% positively/28% negatively), Republicans (23%/ 29%) and Northeasterners (28%/25%). In fact, not a single group of voters viewed Christie more positively than negatively in the poll.

One hates to say that Christie is definitely finished as a serious presidential contender because a lot can happen in a year, but these numbers are some of the worst in memory for a presumed frontrunner. It wasn’t just the scandals that did Christie in. It was also the fact that he courted the media attention. He badly wanted to be the frontrunner.

Christie got burned by setting up a scenario where he was the inevitable Republican nominee. However, with that presumption of frontrunner status came increased media scrutiny that turned what might have been a regional story into an epic national scandal.

Gov. Christie should probably abandon his presidential ambitions. He is going to have his hands full trying to finish his second term in New Jersey. The Republican establishment has no potentially electable candidate to back in the GOP field. They must shudder at the prospect that Rand Paul could swoop in and grab the nomination.

Without an electable candidate for the establishment, 2016 is looking more and more like a Hillary world that Republicans will just be living in.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association