New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie potential candidacy is being called the mainstream GOP's savior, but most Republicans aren't all that enthusiastic about him, polls show.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released today shows that just 42 percent of Republicans want Christie to enter the race — and only 9 percent would support him if he were to run.

Christie is also very unknown within the Republican party at large. A CBS poll released today found just 29 percent of GOP voters have a favorable view of him — while 63 percent aren't sure what to think of him. Among the broader electorate, just 14 percent have a favorable opinion of him while 70 percent have no opinion.

While national polls are not all-important at this stage of the campaign, it shows that the enthusiasm radiated on Fox News and on the opinion page of The Wall Street Journal is out of sync with most of the party. Likewise, Christie will need the all the money he can get from the billionaires pushing him to run, in order to introduce himself to Republican voters before the early state primaries and caucuses.