Most New Jersey voters want their governor to withdraw from the presidential race, saying the campaign is distracting Gov. Chris Christie from issues at home, according to a new Quinnipiac University survey of the Garden State
Sixty-one percent of all New Jersey respondents said they believe Christie should end his bid for the White House and return to Trenton to serve as governor full-time. Only 33 percent said Christie should continue on the campaign trail, and even among Republicans, only 53 percent said he should stay in the race, compared to 40 percent who said he should end his presidential run, reported The Hill.
And if Christie doesn't leave the presidential race, 51 percent said he should resign from his position as governor. Forty-five percent think he should stay in office while also running for president.
Sixty-three percent said Christie's presidential bid is distracting him from important issues back home, while 33 percent said his campaign was not a distraction. Among Democrats, 79 percent said Christie is distracted, and 33 percent of Republicans said the same.
While Republicans gave Christie positive marks on every issue tested - including leadership qualities, economics issues, education and the state budget - he still only placed fourth on Republicans' presidential wish list, with 8 percent support.
Real estate mogul Donald Trump held the lead with 31 percent support, while retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson trailed with 16 percent and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came in third with 15 percent. Christie barely managed to edge out Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who sits in fifth place with 7 percent. The rest of the field came in with less than 4 percent support.
"New Jersey voters think 2-1 that Gov. Christopher Christie should drop the dream that seemed so possible a couple of years ago, before Bridgegate - a story that Democrats stoked for better than a year and that drove the Gov's poll numbers down, down, down," Quinnipiac Poll Assistant Director Maurice Carroll said, reported Politico.
"Even four out of 10 of his fellow Republicans want him to pull the plug," Carroll added.
The bad news for Christie comes days after the governor was relegated, for the first time, to the undercard debate for the Republican presidential nomination. Due to his low polling numbers, Christie will participate in the secondary debate on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. EST, airing on the Fox Business Network, while the top eight candidates will appear in the main event at 9 p.m. EST.
