Gov. Chris Christie's job approval rating dropped to one of the lowest ever recorded in a New Jersey opinion poll as a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind survey said just 18 percent approved of his performance in office.

Only Democratic Govs. Jim Florio with 18 percent and Brendan Byrne with 17 percent in Rutgers-Eagleton polls ever scored as low or lower in any job-performance surveys over the last 40 years.

Christie's job-approval rating was the lowest ever recorded in the FDU poll released Tuesday. In addition, more than 7 in 10 voters felt Christie should have been on trial in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal.

"A proposed renovation of the statehouse may improve the executive wing, but public attitudes are proving more difficult to change," said poll director Krista Jenkins, an FDU professor of political science. "Governor Christie has been abandoned by virtually everyone, which is a far cry from where he once sat atop a field of aspiring presidential candidates who cut a more polarizing figure than he did."

The FDU poll reported that 73 percent of the state's voters disapproved of Christie's job performance, including 89 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of Republicans. In an October FDU survey, 21 percent approved of his job in office, while 72 percent disapproved.

By 70 percent to 20 percent, voters said the state was moving in the wrong wrong direction.

In the earlier Eagleton surveys, Florio's job-approval reached 18 percent in 1990 after he signed tax increases and he lost to Republican Christie Whitman. Democrat Brendan Byrne was the least popular governor with the support of just 17 percent after he signed New Jersey's income tax into law in 1977.

While two former Christie associates, Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, were convicted last month in the Bridgegate scandal, 82 percent of voters said others also should have been on trial for the lane closings. Just 23 percent said all of those involved were brought to trial.

By 71 percent to 23 percent, voters said Christie should have been one of the additional defendants.

President-elect Donald Trump replaced Christie last month as chairman of his transition team with Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Christie, one of the first prominent Republicans to endorse Trump, has yet to be offered a post in the new administration, though has sought the Republican National Committee chairmanship.

The survey of 836 registered New Jersey voters was conducted Nov. 30-Dec. 4 and had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook