If a presidential primary was held today in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie would win the Republican nod, as would former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Democrats' side. The latest Quinnipiac University poll finds Clinton would then defeat Christie by double digits in a head-to-head matchup.

Chris Christie
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivers his State Of The State address, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015, in Trenton, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
loading...

"Clinton would wipe out all of the other Democrats, and then she'd wipe out Christie," said Maurice "Mickey" Carroll, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll.

New Jersey's governor leads the group of Republicans who are potential primary contenders in the poll released Thursday. Christie gets the support of 24 percent of Garden Staters, followed by Mitt Romney (18 percent) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (13 percent). No other possible candidate garnered more than 6 percent support.

Among the Democrats, Clinton gets backing from 65 percent of Jersey voters. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is second with 11 percent, followed by Vice President Joe Biden with 7 percent.

"Clinton beats Christie in the main event by a margin of 52 to 39 percent, voters say, but Christie still comes closer than any of the other Republicans," Carroll said, adding that the former Secretary of State leads Bush by 16 percentage points and Romney by 15.

Garden State voters give Clinton an overall positive favorability rating, 58 to 37 percent. Christie's favorability stands at 42 percent positive and 52 percent negative, with the negative rating being the highest among the GOP field. Voters are divided on Bush, with 30 percent giving him a positive rating and 31 percent negative, while 40 percent are positive about Romney and 45 percent are not.

The survey also reveals that a majority of Garden State voters are not keen on Christie running for president, despite them saying that they think Christie would win the New Jersey primary.

"Is he being distracted by his day job as governor? Yeah, 52 to 41 percent, that's what people say," Carroll said. "He should not run for president, 56 to 40 percent according to what people tell Quinnipiac, and he'd not make a good president -- 57 to 36 percent, they say. If he does run, voters say he should quit his day job, 66 to 31 percent. They say he should just run and not stay as governor."

The poll of 1,211 New Jersey voters was conducted via landlines and cellphones from Jan. 15-19, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM