Christie's job approval drops to a new low

Dustin Racioppi | NorthJersey

Show Caption Hide Caption Video: Christie comments on Trump's FBI chief pick Gov. Christie talks to press about Christopher Wray, picked by Trump to be new FBI Director, outside St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston following a press conference.

Gov. Chris Christie's job approval rating dropped to 15 percent in a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, the worst rating for any governor in any state surveyed by the university in 20 years.

The latest poll puts Christie in a league of his own in New Jersey as well. He had been tied with former Democratic Gov. Brendan Byrne for the lowest job approval rating of 17 percent. The poll released Wednesday said 81 percent of registered New Jersey voters disapprove of the job Christie is doing as governor. He does not have much support within his own party, either, with 58 of Republicans disapproving, according to the poll.

Christie did not take questions at a public event he hosted outside the state capitol Wednesday morning, and his office declined to comment on the poll.

Christie's deep unpopularity with voters is also dragging on his lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, who is the Republican nominee in the contest to succeed him. Her service as Christie's lieutenant governor has left a negative impact on 54 percent of voters, according to the poll.

Twenty-eight percent of those polled reported a negative view of Guadagno, while 20 percent had a favorable view, according to the poll. Half of those polled said they hadn't heard enough about her to form an opinion.

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"Hobbled by eight years in a little noticed job and her ties to a remarkably unpopular governor, Lt. Gov. Guadagno is little-known and little-liked," Maurice Carroll, assistant director of the poll, said in a statement. "Half the state doesn't know enough about her to judge her as a candidate."

But with five months until the gubernatorial election, Guadagno's opponent, Democratic nominee Phil Murphy, holds a commanding lead. If the election were held today, Murphy would beat Guadagno 55 percent to 26 percent, according to the poll. The two candidates clinched their party's nominations in last week's primary.

"Once upon a time, New Jersey elections were peppy — looked on as a sign of where the nation was heading politically. This was a far from peppy primary and the first general election matchup between Democrat Phil Murphy and Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno doesn't look like this race will go down to the wire," Carroll said.

Christie is not the only unpopular Republican in New Jersey. President Donald Trump is also at a historic low job approval, at 28 percent, according to the poll. Quinnipiac noted that in more than 20 years of polling, Christie recorded the worst approval rating. The university conducts surveys in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

Overall, New Jersey voters polled by Quinnipiac held a favorable view of Democrats. U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-Paramus, who is scheduled to stand trial later this year on corruption charges, received a 44 percent approval rating. But the same percentage of voters said that Menendez does not deserve re-election next year. New Jersey's junior U.S. senator, Cory Booker, D-Newark, received a 58 percent approval rating, according to the poll.

The poll was conducted between June 7 and June 12 among 1,103 New Jersey voters. The poll has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.