It’s taken a while, but national polling on the 2016 campaign—yes, it’s too early, and yes, the media should be doing something else—has finally registered a direct hit to Chris Christie. Most of the headlines about the new Quinnipiac poll focus on the ballot test between Christie and Hillary Clinton. Last year, Christie tied with the former secretary of state; he’s now down with the rest of the GOP.
But insofar as these polls matter at all, they matter as gauges of Republican support. Christie’s next elections, theoretically, are the 2016 Iowa caucuses and the 2016 New Hampshire primary. How’s he doing with Republican voters?
Worse and worse. In the last Quinnipiac poll, 64 percent of Republicans said Christie would be a “good president.” Only 18 percent disagreed. That’s shrunk to 50 and 22 percent, respectively—a mere 4-point increase in the hard-no number, but a 12-point move from “good president” to “ask me something else.” Conservatives, more skeptical in general of Christie, had given him a 54–26 advantage on the “good president” question. That’s down to 37–24. Again, not huge movement to “no,” just a lot of sliding toward undecided.
