Chris Christie would be poor VP choice, New Jersey voters say

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has repeatedly and vehemently denied that he has any immediate presidential plans, would not make a good vice presidential candidate, according to a Quinnipiac University poll of his state’s voters released Tuesday.

By a slight negative edge, the poll gives Christie his lowest grade ever, with 44% backing the feisty governor and 47% disapproving. Still, Christie scored better than all but one of the five other governors tracked by Quinnipiac.

So far in the campaign cycle, the GOP race for the presidential nomination has had some of the overtones of “Waiting for Godot.” While formerMassachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has generally been at the head of the pack, polls show that as many as three out of four Republicans would prefer someone else as the party’s nominee.

The problem is that no one has arrived who is the clear favorite of the party’s competing conservative streams: economic, libertarian and social. That has opened the door to a host of late starters — like Texas Gov. Rick Perry, among others — who are eyeing a run and to those who want to push even the most reluctant of candidates such as Christie into the fray.

According to the poll, 61% of New Jersey voters said they thought Christie would be a poor choice for the vice president spot in 2012, while a majority, 52%, said Christie’s selection was not likely or not very likely.

Christie’s approval rating suffered because women seemed especially hostile, probably because they disapproved of his education policies, especially shortfalls in funding, according to Quinnipiac. Women opposed the way the governor is handling education by 60% to 34%.

Overall, the poll found that women disapproved of Christie’s performance by 54% to 36% while men approved, 53% to 39%. The governor was strongly backed by fellow Republicans, 76% to 15%, close to the margin of 75% to 17% by which Democrats disapproved. Independents split 47% to 44%.

The poll is based on the responses of 1,610 registered voters in New Jersey contacted by telephone June 14-19. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

michael.muskal@latimes.com