Who’s less popular, Christie or Corzine?

It may seem hard to believe when you look back at how disgusted people were with Governor Corzine, but the answer to who is more unpopular between Christie now or Corzine then?

Christie.

When he ran for re-election, Corzine wound up with his lowest approval rating of 31 percent. Today, that would be an upgrade for Chris Christie. Even in June before the Bridgegate trial began, he was at a 26. In October he is down to 21. Take away those who still somehow approve and those who are in that grey area of indifference, and you find those who disapprove of the job the governor is doing is at 72%. Worst. Ratings. Ever.

The gas tax hike certainly doesn't help. In a move he touted as tax fairness, he hid both the initial compromise announcement as well as his signing it into law late on a Friday. Not exactly what you do if you really believed you had most of New Jersey sold on this tax fairness silliness. Then there's Bridgegate.

More than half of voters, 52%, believe "sufficient proof" exists that Christie knew of the lane closure con and did nothing to intervene. Count me solidly in that group.

So how many less popular governors have we had than Chris Christie? Not many. Brendan Byrne hit 17% approval rating after enacting the income tax to pay for school funding in 1976. Jim Florio's approval rating also hit 17% after hiking taxes by nearly $3 billion. Finally there was Donald DiFrancesco, but he was never elected. He became governor only because of the departure of Whitman for a Bush cabinet position, and he wasn't around long enough to be well known let alone well loved or well hated.

Could the conclusion of the Bridgegate trial and whatever else comes along in his final year push Christie 5 points lower to become the absolute most hated governor of modern times? Stay tuned.

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