Poll: Christie hanging on to 44% approval

by: Hopeful

Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 10:40:57 AM EDT

Governor Christie's job rating currently stands at 44% approve to 44% disapprove among all state residents, and 45% to 43% among registered voters. This marks a nominal, but not significant, increase from his April rating after he first announced his budget plan (41% to 44% among all adults and 42% to 44% among voters). Christie receives plaudits from 80% of Republicans (up 15 points from April), 45% of independents (down 4 points), and 23% of Democrats (up 4 points).

The state legislature gets positive job ratings from 24% of the public (up from 20% in April) and negative ratings from 49% (down from 56%).

It's far too early to talk about single terms but Christie has not expanded beyond his election day numbers, and he can't count on another three-way race against Jon Corzine. On the other hand, I'd bet he'd do a bit better if only "likely 2010 voters" or "actual 2009 voters" were counted.

The public was asked to give letter grades in various areas, and Christie does well on "controlling costs and cutting waste" and "ethics and honesty." He does notably worse on "property tax relief" and quite poorly on "improving schools." I don't think those views are too surprising, except that I'd say most here at BJ don't expect that ethics number to hold up for four years.

Monmouth also polled on the budget and found most people can "live with it." Majorities think the budget will "hurt" the "middle class," the "poor," and "property tax payers." Certainly that's a sign of weakness for the future. Click the link above to see more budget numbers.

This is the same poll that was used for a release on the public's view of the property tax cap deal.  If you've forgetten, the deal was favored 48-31, and the governor's original proposal actually polled better, though you need to read the release to see the caveats.