Rasmussen: 57% of NJ Voters Have Favorable View Of Christie

From Rasmussen Reports:

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of New Jersey voters have a favorable opinion of Governor-elect Chris Christie just before he formally takes office next Tuesday, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state. Still, while many are giving the new Governor the benefit of the doubt, only 15% with a very favorable opinion.
That overall favorable rating of 57% is up nine points from the last pre-election poll and up eight from right after the election.


Thirty-five percent (35%) of Garden State voters now have an unfavorable view of Christie now, including 17% with a very unfavorable opinion of the new Republican governor.

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Just seven percent (7%) of New Jersey voters say they have a more favorable opinion of Corzine since he lost the election, but 20% say they have a less favorable view of the retiring governor. Seventy percent (70%) say their regard for Corzine has remained about the same.

Thirty-three percent (33%) of New Jersey voters rate taxes as the biggest problem Christie faces as he becomes governor. For 28% the biggest problem is government spending, while 22% put unemployment at the top of the list. Corruption, education and crime, in that order, all get single-digit recognition as the top problem facing the governor-elect.

However, when asked which issue Christie should tackle first, 34% put government spending at the head of the line. For 29%, taxes come first, while 24% cite unemployment. Corruption, education and crime again bring up the bottom of the list. Voters just after the election rated cutting state spending as the new governor’s top priority.

Democrats think that tackling unemployment should be the incoming Governor’s top priority. For Republicans and unaffiliated voters, cutting government spending is atop the list.


Overall, 39% say it’s at least somewhat likely that Christie will be able to cut property taxes in New Jersey which are some of the highest in the nation, little changed from the survey just after the election. Fifty-three percent (53%) say that’s not very or not at all likely.

Voters are a bit more optimistic that the new governor will be able to improve the state’s economy. Fifty percent (50%) say it’s at least somewhat likely, a 10-point boost in confidence from the post-election survey. Forty percent (40%) say it’s not very or not at all likely that Christie can turn around the economy.

But the number who think Christie is very likely to cut property taxes and improve the economy is in single digits.

Part of the skepticism on voters’ part may be their concern about partisanship in Trenton. Eighty-seven percent (87%) say it will be at least somewhat difficult for Christie to work with the Democratic-controlled state legislature, including 41% who believe it will be very difficult. This finding, too, is virtually identical to the numbers right after the election. Just 10% say the new governor’s work relationship with the legislature will be not very or not at all difficult.

Christie is one of two Republican governors elected last November in the two marquee races of 2009. The other was Robert McDonnell in Virginia. Those GOP victories were among the first inklings of the difficult political environment Democrats would face in this year’s midterm elections as the economy continues to stumble along and public anger grows over many of official Washington’s actions.

Hope for a stronger economy has declined in recent months, with pessimism up sharply from a year ago.

Seventy-one percent (71%) of voters nationwide say they’re at least somewhat angry about the current policies of the federal government. That figure includes 46% who are Very Angry.