TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie, despite being named a rising star in the Republican Party and creating buzz inside Washington D.C.'s beltway, remains relatively unknown to the American population, according to a poll released today. In a national survey looking at Republican favorability conducted by Gallup, 52 percent of those polled had "no opinion" of Christie. Among the rest,...
Gov. Chris Christie in this March 17 file photo.TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie, despite being named a rising star in the Republican Party and creating buzz inside Washington D.C.'s beltway, remains relatively unknown to the American population, according to a poll released today.
In a national survey looking at Republican favorability conducted by Gallup, 52 percent of those polled had "no opinion" of Christie. Among the rest, 27 percent had favorable opinion of Christie and 22 percent an unfavorable view of the Republican governor.
Even among Republicans nationally he remains unknown, 47 percent responded that they had "no opinion" of the New Jersey governor. His favorability was high among Republican voters, with 41 percent giving him a favorable rating and 12 percent unfavorable.
When stacked up against others who are being discussed for the GOP presidential nomination, Christie has less name recognition among Republicans than David Patraeus, Jeb Bush and Donald Trump, according to the poll.
At the same time in 2007, a Gallup poll found President Barack Obama had better name recognition than Christie current does, with only 25 percent unable to provide an opinion of him.
"The Republican field has yet to take shape for the party's 2012 presidential nomination, and there are concerns that the list of likely candidates lacks a person appealing enough to defeat Obama," according to the Gallup poll, conducted the last week of March. "Some observers have talked about Christie as a potential candidate who could do that, though at this stage, his national profile remains fairly low, with more than half of Americans not having an opinion of him."
The poll of 1,027 adults had a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.
Previous coverage:
• N.J. GOP opens 'Governor Chris Christie' online store for T-shirts, bumper stickers
• N.J. Gov. Christie gains popularity among GOP in Iowa
• Gov. Christie is 4th-highest paid governor in the United States
• Christie makes 5-year-old YouTube star N.J. governor for the day