Christie sees favorability rating plummet to three-year low mark

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A new Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released Tuesday indicates that for the first time since August 2011, a majority of registered New Jersey voters have an unfavorable opinion of Gov. Chris Christie.According to the poll, some 45 percent of voters find Christie to unfavorable, compared to 42 percent who feel otherwise.

“This is the lowest favorability rating we have ever recorded for Christie, below the 44 percent of August 2011,” poll director and Rutgers University professor David Redlawsk said. “What had seemed like a small rebound following Christie’s Bridgegate ratings collapse now looks more like a temporary blip.”

The poll also found that while 49 percent still approve of the job Christie is doing, his disapproval rating has jumped by five percentage points to 46 percent. Specifically, voter approval on Christie’s handling of major issues such as taxes, the economy and education are all down across the board in the last eight months at the current levels of 33 percent, 38 percent and 39 percent, respectively.

Voter approval also dropped to 37 percent on the governor’s handling of the budget and has remained constant since August at 24 percent on the pension crisis. However, Christie did see a six-percentage point boost on issues pertaining to Sandy recovery since February as 60 percent of registered voters now approve of his post-storm performance.

“The last time New Jerseyans were more negative than positive toward Christie the pension reform bill had just been signed, Christie had begun pushing a voter-supported teacher-tenure package and there had been no Superstorm Sandy,” Redlawsk said. “But the good will he piled up after acting on those voter supported issues, and his handling of Sandy, has vanished. By nearly every measure we have, Christie is losing support.”

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