New Jerseyans would rather see former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush or Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker elected president in 2016 than their own Governor Chris Christie, according to a Monmouth University Poll released this morning.
“The message from New Jersey voters seems to be as simple as ABC – anybody but Christie,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.
In fairness to Christie, it should be noted that Murray did not poll the Governor’s presidential bona fides against former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Congressman Frank Pallone, Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik, Freeholder John Curley, Monmouth Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal or Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
Christie isn’t even New Jersey Republicans first choice to the president. By 44%-30% New Jersey Republicans prefer Walker to Christie in 2016.
Mitt Romney was declare the winner of the Iowa Caucuses by 8 votes. Weeks later after all the votes were counted, Rick Santorum was declared the winner.
Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina GOP Presidential Primary.
Holmdel Deputy Mayor Serena DiMasowas elected a Monmouth County Freeholder by the Monmouth County Republican Committee.
State Senator Joe Kyrillos announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate.
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez blocked Federal Magistrate Patty Shwartz’s nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Menendez denied he was blocking the appointment because Shwartz’s boyfriend was the Assistant U.S. Attorney who investigated him in 2006. Menendez reversed himself after the news of his opposition to Shwartz become pulbic. Shwartz’s nomination has yet to be confirmed.
Governor Christie nominated Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre to be the Director of the Division of Alcohol Beverage Control.
Governor Christie nominated First Assistant Attorney General Philip Kwon and Chatham Mayor Bruce Harris to be State Supreme Court Associate Justices. Kwon was the first Asian-American ever nominated. Harris was the first openingly homosexual nominee.
New Jersey’s newspaper industry fought back efforts to allow “Legal Notices” to be posted online instead of in newspapers.
Mitt Romney won the Florida GOP presidential primary.
I love politics. Always have. But after living through the 2012 GOP Primary, Save Jerseyans, I’m psyched to be three years away from another borish Republican debate.
I’m sure you agree!
Three years out, Chris Christie finds himself in a strong position relative to the rest of the hypothetical field according to a new national registered voter poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Naturally a lot can still change. And as predicted by your Blogger-in-Chief, the same Obama-related interactions that have elevated Christie’s brand in the minds of Indies and Dems have also potentially damaged his standing among Republican primary voters outside of the Garden State.
The numbers:
Right now, the FDU poll found Christie’s name recognition to be superior to FL Senator Marco Rubio’s by 12-points, 68% to 56%, among all voters. Christie is also viewed more favorably than Rubio by 9-points, 55% to 46%, though their unfavorable rating is about the same (20% and 21% respectively).
The New York Times is reporting that former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator will announce that he is suspending his campaign for the GOP Presidential nomination this afternoon.
President Obama’s attempt to convert his “war onto religious freedom” into a Republican “war on women” seems to be working in New Jersey, but is falling flat nationally according to two polls released this week.
The FDU Public Mind Poll released this morning shows that the President’s approval rating in New Jersey jumped to 51%. In January, only 46% approved of Obama’s performance. Women approve by a 24 point margin, 58%-34%, while men disapprove by 49% to 43%.
In a NYTimes/CBS poll national poll released on Monday, only 41% approved of Obama while 47% disapproved. In February Obama scored a 50% approval rating in the NYTimes/CBS poll. Obama’s support among women declined, “even as the debate raged over birth control insurance coverage.”
Both polls indicated that despite his weak numbers and the electorate’s discontent, that Obama would be relected if the election were today. Voters, including Republicans, are not enthused by the Republican challengers.
The Obama campaign will intensify its efforts to boost the President’s standing with women this week with a mailing to over 1 million female voters in more than a dozen battleground states, according to The New York Times.
The campaign’s effort to rally women around the health care law had been long planned, to coincide with the second anniversary of Mr. Obama signing it on March 23, campaign officials said. But the effort has gained intensity, they added, because of recent controversies over contraception, abortion and education in Washington and in state capitals that have energized people in the campaign’s far-flung field offices who are essential to putting any national strategy into action.
Late last year, two and a half months ago, the chatter was that Obama was in trouble with his liberal base as well as the rest of the electorate. The economy was the majority’s concern.
In the last two months, George Stephanopoulos introduced contraception into the GOP primary debate, Rick Santorum and the left stream media kept that chatter alive. Obama announced that contraception will be covered under ObamaCare and Rush Limbaugh called a law student a slut and a prostitute.
Now, instead of focusing on the economy, energy prices and the emergent inflation that hasn’t caught the media’s attention yet, we are engaged in a culture war designed by the Obama campaign to shore up the President’s support with his base and scare women about the evil white men who run the Republican party.
How easily manipulated we are.
The general election campaign is well underway. However the GOP is still fighting over minor differences between it’s potential candidates and is not yet engaged against Obama.
After trailing Rick Santorum in the vote tally most of the night, Mitt Romney eked out a 1 % victory over Santorum in the Ohio GOP presidential primary last night.
In addition to Ohio, Romney won primaries in his home state of Massachusetts, Virginia where only Ron Paul was his only opponent, Alaska, Idaho and Vermont.
Santorum won in Tennessee, Oklahoma, and North Dakota. Newt Gingrich won in Georgia, the state he represented in Congress.
In the race for 1,144 delegates needed to secure the GOP presidential nomination, Romney leads with 415. Santorum has 176, Gingrich 105 and Paul 47.
The nominating March Madness now heads to Kansas where 40 delegates will be selected in a caucus on March 10, followed by primaries in Alabama (50 delegates) and Mississippi (40 delegates) and the Hawaii caucus (20 delegates) on the 13th. Missouri selects 52 delegates via caucus on March 17. The Puerto Rico primary (23 delegates) is on the 18th, Ilinois (69 delegates) in the 20th and Louisiana (46 delegates) on the 24th.
According to a Quinnipiac poll released this morning, Mitt Romney has erased a 10 point deficit from a February 27 poll and now leads Rick Santorum by 3 points in the Ohio GOP presidential primary which will take place tomorrow.
