As they traverse rural stretches of Iowa and small towns of New Hampshire in search of critical early backing, a number of 2016 presidential candidates are losing the support of the voters who know them best: their own constituents.

In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie has seen his poll numbers plummet in recent months, even among the Republican voters who once consistently supported him. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio would lose his home state to Hillary Clinton if the election were held today. In Louisiana, a late-September poll showed more voters would rather have convicted felon and former Gov. Edwin Edwards back in office than Republican incumbent Bobby Jindal, who’s now moving toward a national run.


And last month, Democrat Martin O’Malley departed the Maryland governorship with record-low approval ratings. His replacement, Republican Larry Hogan, notched a stunning upset in the blue state by connecting his opponent to O’Malley.

In years past, White House hopefuls — particularly successful ones — have traditionally been able to count on a groundswell of support in their home states, where they were regarded as favorite sons. This time, not so much.

“Look everywhere in the country. All pols have similar numbers at home,” said Curt Anderson, a Jindal strategist and veteran of presidential campaigns. “We are in an age where people are so disgusted and distrustful of politicians and government, that numbers are down everywhere.”

Tom Jensen, who directs Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm that has been surveying the 2016 landscape, said he’s been struck by how unpopular the presidential contenders are in their home states. In many cases, he said, voters said outright they don’t think their governor or senator should be running for the White House.

“People don’t want their home state politicians to run for president,” Jensen said. “They don’t seem to think of their governors or senators as presidents.”

Few are having a tougher time than Christie. On Wednesday, Monmouth University released a poll showing his disapproval rating at 44 percent, up from 39 percent when the same survey was conducted in September, and up from 32 percent when it was taken in January 2014. A month after his landslide November 2013 reelection, Christie had a stratospheric approval rating of 65 percent among New Jersey voters.

Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth poll, attributed Christie’s decline to an increasing sense among voters — Democrat and Republican — that he’s more interested in becoming president than governing the state. Nearly two-thirds of New Jersey voters said as much in the survey.

“More so than any of the other candidates who are running, Chris Christie seems to the one hardest hit back home with his base. This has been building for some time,” Murray said. “It seems to people that he doesn’t care about New Jersey, that he’s served his purpose.”

Christie’s problems have been compounded by a series of state legislative skirmishes. The most recent surrounds his veto of a bill to reform the Port Authority, the agency at the center of the George Washington Bridge scandal that nearly derailed his governorship. Republican and Democratic lawmakers are now considering overturning Christie’s decision.

In Florida, Rubio has seen his approval dip to 40 percent, according to a November survey conducted by Public Policy Polling. This week, Mason-Dixon, a nonpartisan polling firm, released a survey in which just 15 percent of the state’s voters said Rubio should run for president, compared with 42 percent who said that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush should run.

Florida voters were also asked whether they would support Rubio or Clinton in a prospective 2016 matchup. Forty-three percent said they’d back Rubio, while 45 percent said they’d support Clinton.

As with Christie, Rubio’s ambition may be working against him in his home state. Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon, said many voters believe the 43-year-old senator isn’t ready to be president. “On the other hand, they don’t have any doubt that Jeb is presidential material,” he said.

Not all presidential candidates have campaigned with the support of their home states. In 2012, Mitt Romney lost Massachusetts, where he served as governor, by a landslide. In 2000, Al Gore lost Tennessee, where he spent more than a decade as a senator and congressman.

But, over the years, White House hopefuls have been mostly popular back home. According to Eric Ostermeier, a University of Minnesota political scientist, the last winning presidential candidate who lost his home state was Woodrow Wilson: in 1916, he won a second term as Republican Charles Hughes carried New Jersey.

Some of the current contenders are deeply unpopular in their states. In Louisiana, a Public Policy Polling survey released in September showed Jindal’s approval at just 34 percent. (He fared slightly better in one released a month later, notching a 43 percent rating.) Once seen as a rising star, the Louisiana governor’s poll numbers have dipped in recent years as he’s presided over a series of painful budget cuts.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Democratic Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) are nationally recognized but face critical constituents on their home turfs. | AP Photo/Getty

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has struggled mightily in his blue-leaning home state, where voters booted him from the Senate in a 2006 landslide. A Public Policy Polling survey released last month showed just a third of the state’s voters expressing a favorable view of Santorum; he finished last in a prospective 2016 Republican primary in the Keystone State.

In Maryland, O’Malley fares little better. An October poll conducted by The Washington Post found him with a 41 percent approval rating, the lowest mark of his eight-year tenure. And in a prospective Democratic presidential primary in the state, he received the backing of just 3 percent – compared with 63 percent for Clinton.

But not every presidential hopeful is having home-state blues. Govs. John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin have maintained relatively high ratings in closely divided swing states.

On the trail, Walker has been pointing to his popularity in Wisconsin as evidence of his presidential timber. During an appearance before the Republican National Committee’s meeting in San Diego last month, Walker noted that he’d managed to survive a recall and easily win reelection in a critical swing state by appealing to Democrats and Republicans.

“Our state hasn’t gone Republican for president since I was in high school, more than 30 years ago,” he said. “We were able to win because we had a proven record … Now what I take from that, what I share with you this weekend, is the fact that I think we can carry that same sort of message in 2016 as well.”