Survey was taken before governor announced intention to not seek nomination for 2012 Watch video
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Gov. Chris Christie smiles during his announcement Tuesday that he was not seeking the Republican Party nomination for president next year. A poll released today, but taken before the announcement, found Christie to be tied as the GOP frontrunner with former Gov. Mitt Romney. TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie would have been a contender if he jumped into the presidential race, a poll released this morning by Quinnipiac University shows.
The poll found Christie tied with former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney as the leading candidate for the GOP nomination, each with 17 percent support from Republican and Republican-leaning voters. Next was businessman Herman Cain, who got 12 percent, followed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 10 percent.
Christie also leads President Obama, getting 45 percent to the presidents' 42 percent.
“This survey shows Gov. Christie is walking away from the possibility — at least today — to be elected president of the United States,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Whether he would have won the GOP nomination or the election will never be known, but the data indicate he had a serious chance to win it all.”
But while Christie performs well in the poll, most are still not familiar with him. Fifty-nine percent of voters have not heard enough about Christie to have an opinion, while 23 percent see him favorably and 17 percent unfavorably
Without Christie in the race, Romney leads the pack for the GOP nomination at 22 percent to Cain’s 17 percent and Perry’s 14 percent. Romney also leads Obama 46 percent to 42 percent.
“With Christie out of the race, Romney has some breathing room. Let’s see if the emerging Herman Cain has staying power,” said Brown.
The poll of 2,118 registered voters was conducted between September 27 and October 3. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. For the Republican primary questions, Quinnipiac surveyed 927 voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
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