Chris Christie Continues to Get High Approval Ratings

A new survey by Rutgers-Eagleton shows Gov. Chris Christie’s approval ratings are still the envy of most politicians, but they have slipped a bit while his disapprovals have inched up.

The Governor’s positive job rating stands at 66 percent today, down four points since June. Disapproval of Christie has increased six points to 31 percent, but that’s still far below pre-Sandy highs.

"It was inevitable that the governor’s ratings would drop from their high point during the run-up to an election, but Christie continues to bask in broad support," said David Redlawsk, director of the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll.

Taxes and the economy are identified by most as the top issues for New Jersey residents. The majority of Garden Staters do not give Christie high marks in either of those categories. Just 42 percent approve of his handling of the economy and jobs and that is unchanged since June. His performance on taxes has seen a seven point dip. It now stands at 34 percent. Still, most Jersey voters like Christie.

Sixty percent feel favorable toward the Governor, down four points since June. Only 32 percent hold an unfavorable impression.

“Voters continue to like him,” said Redlawsk. "He's seen in such a positive light and is able to overcome disapproval on individual issues."

The Democrat challenging Christie is this year’s gubernatorial race doesn’t get much help from any of the Governor’s ratings slippage. More than half of voters still do not know or have an impression of Sen. Barbara Buono. Among those with an impression, her favorability has improved five points to 27 percent. Her unfavorability has dropped two points since June to 22 percent.

Neither candidate’s running mate has much name recognition. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno is viewed favorably by a 2 to 1 margin, but 71 percent have no opinion. Milly Silva, Buono’s running mate, fares even worse: 79 percent of voters have no opinion of her, 13 percent feel unfavorable and only 9 percent are favorable.

Results are from a poll of 925 New Jersey adults conducted statewide among both landline and cell phone households from Sept 3-9. The subsample of 814 registered voters reported on here has a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points.