Chris Christie is betting his presidential campaign on New Hampshire’s independent Republican voters. And it looks like an uphill battle according to a new DailyMail.com poll showing that 60 percent of primary voters want him out of the race now.
But at the same time, the former governor of New Jersey has moved up to tie for third behind Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.
It all points to a love him or hate him, take him or leave it, polarizing voters as a mirror image of Trump, casting him as a potential wild card.
“Chris Christie may come in third in our New Hampshire poll, but everything indicates there is a firm limit to his vote,” said JL Partners’ James Johnson, who led the poll.
“He is the most hated person in the race, with half of the primary voters in the state having an unfavorable view of him.
“It will be especially brutal for the former governor of New Jersey that six in ten think he should drop out of the race.”
Our new poll shows the state of the New Hampshire Republican primary. It has a mixed message for former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, with six in 10 voters wanting him to step down
Christie is pushing his campaign for a good result in the state of New Hampshire, where he hopes his ability to win over independents will prove decisive
Christie has branded himself as the Trump slayer in the race, attacking the front runner – and his former ally – when the rest of the field plays it safe so as not to alienate the former president’s legion of fans.
And he believes his record as a Republican governor in a blue state positions him well in New Hampshire, where primary voters tend to be less conservative than the next early state of Iowa.
He will find encouragement in the poll of 591 registered Republicans and others planning to call for a primary vote.
It shows him winning eight percent of the vote, up from one percent in April. That puts him tied for third with Senator Tim Scott, numbers that have eaten up Trump and DeSantis’ share.
At the same time, 60 percent say they want Christie to leave the race now. That number rises to 80 percent among Trump voters.
And he has the worst preference score. Some 50 percent say they feel unfavorable towards him, while only 21 percent say they rate him positively.
When asked why they would be hesitant to vote for Christie, the most popular answer is that he is not Trump. Others called him a Rino (Republican in name only) or referenced the Bridgegate scandal, which cast a long shadow over his 2016 presidency.
‘I’m worried about his weight,’ says another respondent.
Question: “What would be your biggest hesitation about voting for Chris Christie in the Republican presidential primary?” He is not Trump, was the most heard response
Our new poll shows how the two leading candidates have seen their support shrink as Christie and Scott in particular gain momentum among New Hampshire voters
But overall, the responses show how Trump and his message have captured voters’ imaginations. So Christie is considered “part of the swamp” or “great government.”
For his part, Christie plays down the results of early polls.
And commentators say his combative style means he could have a breakaway moment in the first debate on Aug. 23, like when he knocked down Senator Marco Rubio during a viral moment in a debate in 2016.
“Christie could end up dominating the first primary debate — and keep other candidates from breaking through,” Johnson said.
“But according to the data, he currently doesn’t have the political strength to break into second place in the Granite State.”
Christie made regular appearances alongside Donald Trump in 2016 after dropping out of the race
Neil Levesque, director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, said it was too early to comment. The state’s well-informed voters liked to take their time before making their decision, he said.
“If he can show on the debate stage or during the campaign pivots that he is a strong presidential candidate and create a contrast to Trump, then that could be the time,” he said.
“The challenge for these candidates is, to some extent, you have to be able to challenge the former president.”
Christie is the most vocal of the candidates in the attack on Trump.
“The reason I’m going after Trump is twofold,” he said at the campaign launch last month. “One, he deserves it. And two, it’s the way to win.’
He hopes a strong performance in New Hampshire can knock out his rivals and show that he is best placed to knock out front-runner Trump. But in 2016, he garnered just seven percent of the primary vote and dropped out shortly after.
Last week, he downplayed poll results in New Hampshire.
If you recall 2016, Trump was never ahead in any poll, ever. Until election night,” he told USA Today. “People were reluctant to say they were pro Trump when a pollster called because it wasn’t really politically correct to say you are pro Trump.
“Now it’s not politically correct to say you’re against Donald Trump.”