Clearly, he is paying a price. A new Pew Research Center/USA Today survey has three bits of bad news for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie: (1) his numbers are going south faster than senior Canadians heading to Arizona during the winter, (2) most don’t believe his version of events and lack of culpability in the “Bridgegate” scandal, and (3) his big drop is in the number of Democrats and independents who had supported him and helped him win by a big margin.
Chris Christie’s public image today is starkly different than it was a year ago. Last January, following Christie’s visible role in Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, favorable opinions outnumbered unfavorable ones by more than two-to-one. Today, in the wake of a scandal involving highway lane closures that led to massive traffic jams in northern New Jersey, nearly as many offer an unfavorable assessment of Christie as a favorable one.
Christie’s explanation of his role in the highway lane closure is drawing skepticism. Most of those who have heard about the controversy do not believe Christie’s assertion that he was not aware of his aides’ involvement in the lane closure.
The national survey by the Pew Research Center and USA TODAY, conducted Jan. 15-19 among 1,504 adults finds that 38% have a favorable impression of Christie while 34% have an unfavorable view; 28% offer no opinion of the New Jersey governor. Unfavorable views of Christie have doubled since last January – from 17% to 34% – as more people now offer an opinion of Christie. Favorable views of Christie are largely unchanged from last January (38% now, 40% then).
And here’s the really bad news for Christie:
Majorities of Democrats (67%) and independents (60%) who heard at least a little about Christie’s aides ordering the lane closure do not believe Christie’s statement that he had no knowledge of his aides’ involvement. About half of Republicans (48%) believe Christie’s assertions while 42% do not. There are no significant partisan differences in awareness of Christie’s aides ordering the lane closure.
Another way of looking at this is that a large number of Republicans are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. The others are saying, in effect, prove to me you didn’t do it. Not a great position for someone aspiring to the White House to be in.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.