By Michael Aron
Chief Political Correspondent
Chris Christie may have made inroads with New Hampshire Republicans Monday night, but the latest Rutgers-Eagleton Poll suggests he’s losing trust with the home folks.
Asked if Christie would make a good president, 59 percent told Eagleton no, 34 percent yes.
Asked for a one-word description of Christie, 10 percent said bully, 7 percent arrogant, 4 percent selfish, 4 percent good and 2 percent honest.
Asked if Christie has the right demeanor and personality to be president, 36 percent said yes, 61 percent no.
Asked if his decisions lately are more about running for president than what’s good for New Jersey, 68 percent said yes, 22 percent no.
And yet New Jerseyans still see a chance that he’ll be the Republican nominee. Asked how likely that is, 13 percent said very, 36 percent somewhat, 27 percent somewhat unlikely, 22 percent not at all likely.
“I think it’s a little worse than I thought it would be,” said Rutgers-Eagleton Poll Director David Redlawsk.
Redlawsk says New Jerseyans are getting frustrated about the governor’s frequent absences.
“A lot of comments about he’s not focusing on his job here in New Jersey. They don’t like the idea he’s out running for president. But I also think that we’ve got the baggage that’s come up in the last year — Bridgegate is one thing — just a general sense that the bloom is off the rose, as it were,” Redlawsk said.
His fall in the polls has some people wondering whether he’s re-thinking even running for president.
A mock Ben and Jerry’s ice cream carton, from Mad Magazine captures that sentiment. It has Christie’s picture on it and the name of a new flavor: Career Crumble.
Still, he sounded very much the candidate Monday night.
“I know there is no way that a guy from New Jersey is going to go down without swinging on this one,” Christie said while in New Hampshire.
In our own unscientific street poll, Christie fared a little better.
“If he can get the controversy out of the way that’s been following him, I think he’s got some sound ideas,” said Bob Porter of New Brunswick.
When asked if he/she thinks Christie would be a good president, Dan Shaw of Cherry Hill said, “Absolutely. I think Christie has the balls that a president needs in this country.”
Gary Dobson of Pennington disagreed. “He has no loyalty to history or to the people that he’s constituents of,” he said. When asked who he’s loyal to, ???? said, “Himself.”
Richard Steele of Plainfield thinks Christie would make a good president “because he’s doing a great job in New Jersey.”
Sylvia Johnson of East Brunswick said, “I don’t think so. No command.”
Others were more on the fence. “I think he wouldn’t be bad, but I don’t know if he’s be great,” said one man.
In a head-to-head match-up with Hillary Clinton, New Jerseyans prefer Clinton to Christie 58 percent to 35.
However, that’s better than Jeb Bush or any other Republican fares in this state.
And in a recent NBC News Marist Poll in New Hampshire, Christie finished within the margin of error of Bush, Scott Walker and Rand Paul.
It’s still early to be drawing conclusions about Christie’s chances in 2016, but these latest numbers out of Eagleton just add a touch of angst to the equation if you’re Chris Christie or one of his advisors.