Christie should have been Bridgegate defendant, poll finds

Nearly three-quarters of registered voters think Governor Christie should have been a defendant in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure trial, according to a new poll that also showed Christie's job approval at yet another low and tied for the second-worst in recent history.

Christie's approval ratings and popularity among voters have been on a downward trajectory since emails published in January 2014 showed high-ranking members of his administration were involved in or knew of the lane realignments at the bridge in Fort Lee, which federal prosecutors say were designed to create a traffic nightmare as punishment against the borough's Democratic mayor for not endorsing Christie for re-election.

Christie was not charged in the case. He has maintained that he did not know the extent of his staff's involvement until the emails were first published by The Record, but during the trial six people — including two former top aides and his chief strategist — testified that they did tell him before January that senior staff were said to be linked to the scheme.

Christie said in an interview with the CBS anchor Charlie Rose that the conviction of two former associates confirmed what he thought in January 2014, but he has refused to take questions from the State House press corps about the discrepancy between what he has said and what his allies testified under oath in a federal courtroom.

Even though there was no evidence that Christie knew of or approved the traffic plot, the Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll released Tuesday said 71 percent of registered voters thought the governor should have been at the defense table beside his former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, and former Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni. Both were convicted last month of all charges against them; a third, former agency executive David Wildstein, who grew up with Christie, pleaded guilty.

"The case appears won in the court of public opinion,” poll director Krista Jenkins said in a statement. “Across the board we see disbelief in Governor Christie’s claims of ignorance about what his underlings were up to. The only group who offers some degree of equivocation is Republicans, but even half of them say they believe the governor should have also been a defendant. Past surveys from FDU have found a majority of registered voters incredulous at the claim that he knew nothing until incriminating text messages and emails were made public.”

Just 18 percent of those surveyed approved of Christie's performance as governor, the lowest recorded by the university since it began polling in 2001 and the lowest of Christie's tenure. That also ties Christie for the second-worst approval rating for a governor in recent history. Democrat Jim Florio also had an 18 percent approval rating in 1990 after signing tax increases. Democrat Brendan Byrne holds the ignominious distinction of having the lowest approval rating of any governor, with 17 percent after he signed the state's income tax into law in 1977.

Tuesday's PublicMind poll said 73 percent of voters disapprove of Christie's job performance, while 20 percent of voters are content with the state's direction.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday showed similar findings, with Christie's approval/disapproval rating 19 percent to 77 percent. Some 71 percent said the governor knew his aides had closed the bridge lanes, 56 percent said it should be investigated further and 48 percent said he personally ordered the closures.

Quinnipiac said Christie's 19 percent approval was the lowest for any governor in any state in more than 20 years the university has been polling. By a 69 percent to 24 percent margin, New Jersey voters told the pollsters Christie should not be offered a job in President-elect Donald Trump's administration.

Christie is also losing party support, the Fairleigh Dickinson poll found. A little more than half of Republicans surveyed said they disapprove of his leadership, and 33 percent approve. The divisions within the party have become more apparent, with his Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, an expected candidate to replace him, breaking from Christie on the gasoline tax and a Republican Assemblyman, Jack Ciattarelli, running for governor on an anti-Christie platform.

“Governor Christie has been abandoned by virtually everyone, which is a far cry from where he once sat atop a field of aspiring presidential candidates who cut a more polarizing figure than he did,” Jenkins said.

The poll was conducted from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4 among a random sample of 836 registered voters in New Jersey. The poll has a 3.4-point margin of error.