TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie has called the George Washington Bridge scandal an obsession of the press that the public doesn't care about, but two polls released today show the ordeal continues to erode his political support and public image.

One survey, the Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll, showed Christie's popularity at an all-time low after dropping 20 percentage points since November.

What’s more, 41 percent of voters surveyed said they approved of Christie’s job performance and 44 percent disapproved — the first time the poll has shown results to be more critical than supportive of the Republican governor since he took office in January 2010.

But the executive director of PublicMind, Krista Jenkins, cautioned that the 3 point difference was within the 3.7 percentage point margin of error.

"One of the defining characteristics of the governor that makes him a nationally sought after Republican is his widespread appeal in a Democratic state," Jenkins said. "Bridgegate continues to erode that asset."

At the same time, a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll of 729 registered voters released today and conducted Feb. 22-28 showed a record low number of voters — 23 percent — said the word "trustworthy" described Christie very well, down 20 points from October.

And while 54 percent of those polled said "strong leader" suits Christie very well, that is the lowest score he has received while in office.

"The Bridgegate and Sandy allegations continue to take their toll on perceptions of the governor’s positive personality traits," said David Redlawsk, director of the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll. "In particular, trustworthy was one of Christie’s hallmarks, especially given voters’ normal cynicism about politicians. Losing the trust of voters puts Christie into the category of an ordinary politician."

The poll numbers undercut the claims made by the governor — whose office and allies are entangled in the politically charged scandal — that the public is not paying attention and could not care less.

As Christie said in a radio interview last month: "The public understands that there are a lot of important issues that confront the state. I will be dammed if I let any of this stuff get in the way of me doing my real job."

Then after a town hall meeting in Middletown the next day, when asked by a reporter why no one had pressed him about the bridge scandal, he said, "People care about real problems."

The scandal surrounding the closing of access lanes to the bridge in Fort Lee — viewed as political retribution after the town’s Democratic mayor refused to endorse the governor’s re-election — has not only taken a toll on Christie’s standing among New Jerseyans but potential voters nationwide who had viewed him as a strong presidential contender in 2016.

A Rutgers-Eagleton poll released last week showed former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democrat, receiving 51 percent of support in New Jersey compared with Christie’s 41 percent, a figure that has slipped considerably in the last two months.

In a PublicMind poll released in November, Christie — by 61 percent to 24 percent — had a positive approval rating. The precipitous drop began in January, when it measured Christie’s approval at 48 percent and his disapproval at 41 percent. That was the month the bridge scandal emerged after emails surfaced showing a top Christie aide ordered the closing of the bridge's access lanes, knotting traffic for hours over several days in September.

In the Fairleigh Dickinson poll released today, only 24 percent of Democrats said Christie was doing a good job, while Republicans backed him 66 percent to 19 percent. Independents gave him far narrower support, however, 47 percent to 36 percent.

The PublicMind poll — which surveyed 703 New Jersey voters March 4-9 — also showed the public was not pleased with the way the scandal was shaking out, including an investigation by the state Legislature, Christie’s response and press coverage.

Only 32 percent of voters said Christie was doing an "excellent" or "good" job responding to the bridge scandal, while 61 percent of registered voters rated his performance as "fair" or "poor."

The media did not fare well either. When asked to rate its coverage, 56 percent said it was either "fair" or "poor," and 38 percent called the coverage "good" or "excellent."

Forty-six percent of the voters polled said the coverage reflected a media "liberal bias," while 43 percent said it had been objective. Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to see bias in the coverage.

"Blaming the messenger is a tried-and-true strategy in American politics," Jenkins said. "Although divided, there’s enough suspicion among the public for the governor to claim coverage is being driven more by bias than objectivity."

Fifty-five percent of voters gave "fair" or "poor" ratings to the Legislature’s investigation, while 32 percent say it’s been "excellent" or "good."

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