Christie’s Numbers Still Climbing
By Art Gallagher
Governor Chris Christie is enjoying his highest approval ratings to date in New Jersey, according to a Monmouth University/NJ Press Media Poll released this morning.
55% of registered voters approve of the Governor compared to 37% who disapprove. Among women there was a 15 point swing in favor of the governor. 53% of women approve while 40% disapprove. In an August Monmouth poll, 45% of women approved of Christie and 48% disapproved.
Among Independents, 58% approve of Christie and 34% disapprove.
Monmouth Polling Director Patrick Murray’s questions and his narrative of the poll focused on the national attention that Christie has enjoyed during his fund raising trip, his speech at the Reagan Library, and the speculation over whether or not he would run for president. Christie’s preparation for and response to Hurricane Irene were not specifically addressed in this poll.
Despite his increased popularity, New Jersey is not optimistic that Christie will be able to forward his agenda through the Democratic legislature. 54% of New Jerseyans say that the Democratic leaders in the legislature are not working well with Christie compared to 32% who say they have been working well together. Among Independents, 59% say the Democrats and Christie are not working so well together.
Today’s Monmouth poll is consistent with the FDU poll released on September 27. In the FDU poll, while 54% of New Jersey voters approved of Christie, 47% said that the state is on the wrong track.
As on wrote after the FDU poll and as InTheLobby wrote yesterday Christie has an opportunity to lead the electorate into giving him a more cooperative legislature, just as he led the electorate to defeat 59% of the school budgets in 2010 when his approval numbers were not nearly as strong as they are today.
Christie has said that he doesn’t think the legislative elections will be a referendum on his performance “given the map” that is gerrymandered to favor a Democratic legislature. In a normal year, Christie would probably be right about that.
However this is not a normal year. It is not normal for a sitting governor to enjoy 55% approval ratings when unemployment is at 9.4% half way through his term. With the exception a the few “competitive” districts, there has been no campaign to speak of. Christie has an opportunity here to close the gap between Democrats and Republicans in the legislature. Taking control of at least one house of the legislature is not impossible. It is not likely, but it is not impossible if Christie asks the electorate to give it to him.
I hope he does.
More from my site
FDU Poll: 55% of New Jersey voters approve of Christie but don’t know why- Monmouth Poll: Christie looks like a lock for reelection
Monmouth Poll: Christie’s Disapprove Numbers Up 9 points
Christie’s Polling Numbers Rise Significantly
Monmouth Poll: Voters Like Christie, They Don’t Like Property Taxes
Poll Dancing- Poll biases: It’s not just the sampling weights
What is we held an election and nobody cared? Part 3, The 12th Legislative District
Patrick Murray: Mark Magyar mischaracterized his analysis
Christie Reverses the Gender Gap