Chris Christie’s Record-High Approvals Not Helping Romney In NJ [AUDIO]

Yesterday's Fairleigh Dickinson University-Public Mind poll shows us that 56 percent of registered New Jersey voters approve of the job Governor Chris Christie is doing, compared to 33 percent who disapprove. Fifty-six percent is an all-time high for Christie.

Even three-in-ten Democrats think the Governor is doing a 'good' or 'excellent' job. Before you start thinking that Christie's popularity is going to help GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney you should take a look at today's poll numbers.

"What's interesting is the fact that these men are from different parties, during a time of sharp partisan division and yet they garner about the same support," says FDU political scientist and poll analyst Krista Jenkins. "Obama's popularity in the Garden State doesn't detract from Christie's, and vice-versa. Both clearly bring something to the table that works for New Jerseyans."

Today's survey reveals 50 percent of New Jersey voters say they approve of the way the president is handling his job, while 42 percent disapprove.

Are Christie's high approvals likely to help Romney, the man he's endorsed for President? After all, New Jersey is a blue state and we shouldn't read too much into the fact that the Republican Christie toppled an incumbent Democrat in the 2009 gubernatorial race.

Jenkins says, "Oh clearly not. I mean New Jersey is known for its strong moderate tendencies……I don't believe that there's any reason to think that what happened to (former Governor) Jon Corzine is inevitably going to happen to Barack Obama. It's like comparing apples to oranges."

The numbers bear that out. When it comes to the all important horserace, Obama bests the presumptive Republican nominee, Romney, by fourteen points (50-36 percent).

While Christie's numbers among women are improving, they're probably not where he'd lie them to be. Romney seems to have the same issue in New Jersey.

The gender gap is a sizable obstacle for Romney to overcome. Although men are about equally divided in their support for the candidates (45% Obama; 42% Romney), the majority of women say they'd vote for Obama if the election were held today (54%-31%). Women are also significantly more likely to approve of Obama's job performance (55%) than men (45%).

Jenkins explains, "What we're seeing in New Jersey confirms what's going on nationally. Judging by the size of Romney's deficit with women voters, gender is going to play a sizable role in the outcome of this election."

The majority of respondents (56%) believe the country is on the wrong track, and men (57%) and women (55%) are about equally pessimistic.

The poll of 797 registered voters statewide was conducted by telephone using both landlines and cell phones from April 30th through May 6th, 2012, and has a margin of error of +/-3.5 percentage points.