Gallup: Christie most popular GOP hopeful, least popular with GOP base
By Cameron Joseph - 06/14/13 03:48 PM ET
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is the most popular potential 2016 candidate in the Republican Party — and the least popular with the GOP base, according to a new Gallup poll.
Those numbers come as Christie is set to appear with former President Clinton Friday evening — instead of stopping by the annual Faith & Freedom Coalition gathering of religious conservatives, an event that drew many other potential GOP presidential candidates.
Christie has a net positive rating of 32 percentage points among all voters, with 52 percent holding favorable opinions of him to just 20 who see him negatively. That's far ahead of the other four other Republicans tested. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has a 15-point net positive rating, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has an 8-point net positive rating, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has a 6-point net positive rating and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)has a 5-point positive rating.
But Christie is less popular than the others with Republicans, and much of popularity comes from his appeal to Democrats and independents. Christie's net positive favorable rating is 28, as compared to Ryan's 52-point net positive rating, Rubio's 47-point net positive rating, Paul's 32-point net positive rating and Cruz's 27-point net rating. Fully one-quarter of GOP voters hold a negative opinion of Christie.
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He's been scoring a lot of points with me recently. I will probably vote for him in the NJ governor's race. That stupid gathering is almost always a must-do for a Republican Pres. candidates.
