TRENTON -- Gov. Chris Christie insists the reason why most New Jersey voters say he would not make a good president is because they actually want him to remain as their governor, he said in an interview to air on Fox News Channel's "The Kelly File" at 9 p.m. on Monday.

An April 20th Quinnipiac University poll found that 65 percent of Garden State voters think Christie would not make a good president, compared to only 29 percent who think he would.

"They want me to stay," Christie told Fox's Megyn Kelly, "A lot of those people in that 65 percent want me to stay. And I've heard that from lots of people at town hall meetings. 'Don't leave to run for president because we want you to stay. ' "

The April Quinnipiac poll found that 54 percent of New Jersey voters disapproved of Christie's job as governor, and 70 percent of the state's voters believed Christie should resign if he does decide to run for president.

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Christie, however, was sanguine and unperturbed by his poor in-state stats, insisting they were the result of a willingness to tackle weighty issues.

"The fact is that polls in New Jersey will go up and down as well, Megyn," Christie said, "I've been as high as 75 to 80 percent approval -- as low as 30 to 40 percent approval. And it's bounced back and forth over the five and a half years because I do things. Because I do things of consequence that people will either agree with or disagree with."

In fact, the highest ratings Christie ever received were a 73 percent approval he garnered in January 2013, according to an FDU/PublicMind poll taken a few months after Hurricane Sandy. His nadir came last week, when a Monmouth University poll found only 35 percent of New Jersey voters approved of Christie's job as governor

When it came to running for the White House in 2016, Christie stressed in the interview, "I'm not a candidate yet" but then also took a shot at both President Obama and one of his major GOP 2016 rivals, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

"We've had the experience of a one-term U.S. senator going to the White House," said Christie, "and I don't think it works well."

Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com