Gov. Chris Christie Campaigning This Past Year

NJ Gov. Chris Christie has a rally with Massachusetts Governor Baker, Lt. Governor Polito and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. Saturday February 6, 2016. Bedford, NH, USA (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

(Aristide Economopoulos )

TRENTON -- Absence doesn't always make the heart grow fonder, according to a new poll tracking Gov. Chris Christie's popularity at home.

Less than a week after he dropped out of the Republican presidential race following a poor performance in the New Hampshire primary, the new Rutgers-Eagleton poll shows just 29 percent of New Jersey's registered voters have a favorable view of the governor.

That's down four points from the last poll in December.

The governor's job approval ratings remained about the same, matching a record low of 33 percent approving and 61 percent disapproving, the poll found.

Not surprisingly, Christie's favorability rating is down most among Democrats, with just 12 percent saying they have a favorable view of the governor. That's compared to a quarter of independents and 63 percent of Republicans.

Ashley Koning, the assistant director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University, said the results come just as Christie returns from his failed presidential bid, which kept him out of state more often than not.

"Even during the most contentious moments of his governorship -- his polarizing first years in office or in Bridegate's immediate aftermath -- the governor's numbers never reached the consistent lows we saw throughout his run for president and see now upon his return."

The new numbers came just as Christie was preparing to present his state budget address, calling on members of the Democrat-controlled Legislature to work with him on bipartisan solutions to pressing matters including the state's pension crisis, the dwindling Transportation Trust Fund and tax reform.

David Redlawsk, the center's director and a political science professor at Rutgers, said the governor's sliding approval rating "does not bode well for Christie's agenda."

"There seems little reason for the Democrats who control the legislature to warmly embrace a governor voters feel so cool about," Redlawsk said in a statement.

The poll numbers represent the responses of 758 registered voters interviewed by pollsters Feb. 6-15, with a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.