Gov. Chris Christie, right, greets former Gov. Brendan Byrne. | AP Photo/Mel Evans Christie hits rock bottom in polls

Former Gov. Brendan Byrne now shares the distinction of being the least popular New Jersey governor in memory with Gov. Chris Christie.

A poll released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University shows Christie’s approval rating with New Jersey voters at 17 percent — a record low for Christie, and tying the worst approval rating for any governor in memory that was set by Byrne, a Democrat, in 1977.


Seventy-eight percent of voters disapproved of Christie, a Republican. In early December, Quinnipiac measured Christie’s approval rating at 19 percent and his disapproval at 77 percent.

“It’s interesting, in an unfriendly way, to wonder how low Gov. Christopher Christie’s job-approval numbers might drop,” said Mickey Carroll, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. “Still, he’s got 11 more months as the most powerful governor in the land and the State Legislature still sustains his vetoes. It might be an interesting year.”

According to a separate Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind poll released Tuesday morning, the governor’s approval rating was similarly low at 18 percent.

President Donald Trump is also unpopular in New Jersey. Fifty-five percent disapprove of his job performance so far, while 36 percent approve. The Democrat-led state Legislature isn't faring any better, with an approval rating of just 26 percent.

New Jersey voters aren’t in such a sour mood about all their politicians — even one under indictment. Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, who faces federal corruption charges, has a 51 percent approval rating. Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker is even more popular, at 58 percent.

The poll results for Christie are nearly identical to a Fairleigh Dickinson University survey released earlier Tuesday morning, which had the governor’s approval rating at 18 percent.

Byrne’s low point was measured in a Rutgers-Eagleton poll after he signed into law the state income tax. Back then, 17 percent of voters rated Byrne’s performance as either “excellent” or “good.” Nevertheless, Byrne was able to win re-election later that year.

“I knew I’d get re-elected when people started waving at me using all five fingers,” Byrne famously said.

Christie has now surpassed the depths of unpopularity suffered by former Democratic Gov. Jim Florio in 1990 when he signed a series of tax increases to balance the budget. Florio narrowly lost re-election in 1993.

Christie — who just signed a bill to raise the gas tax by 23 cents per gallon while pairing it with a series of other tax cuts — is in the final year of his second term and cannot seek re-election this year. He won a landslide re-election in 2013 after reaching stratospheric approval ratings in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. But his popularity began declining in the wake of the Bridgegate scandal, and fell further when he spent the majority of his time out of state during his bid for president.

Quinnipiac also asked voters about a hypothetical gubernatorial match-up between Democratic candidate Phil Murphy and Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, both of whom are running for governor but face primary opponents in June.

Murphy leads Guadagno 45 percent to 29 percent.

But there’s plenty of room for movement on those numbers, given how little voters know about either candidate.

Seventy percent of voters didn’t know enough about Murphy to form an opinion, despite his spending millions on TV and internet ads to boost his name recognition. Sixty-one percent didn’t know enough about Guadagno, even though she has been Christie’s number two for seven years. Murphy is viewed favorably by 21 percent and unfavorably by eight percent. Those who know about Guadagno are split on their opinions of her, with 18 percent giving her a favorable rating and 19 percent an unfavorable one.

“Following Gov. Christie, who – popular or unpopular – has dominated New Jersey news from the day he took office, the 2017 contenders are all but anonymous,” Carroll said.

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,240 New Jersey voters from Jan. 26 - 30. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.