The UNH poll came out last week. Trump has a solid lead, DeSantis has collapsed, Vivek claimed second, and Chris Christie is the guy Republicans are least likely to vote for under any circumstance. This week, St. Anselm’s published their most recent poll.
Trump still sits on top (45%), Nikki Haley takes the second spot (15%), followed by Ron DeSantis (11%) and Chris Christie at 10%. Ramaswamy is 5th, Scott 6th, Traitor Pence 7th, then, as they used to say in the opening to Gilligan’s Island, “and the rest.”
As with the UNH poll, everyone but Trump is drifting within the margin of error, so you have to look elsewhere for nuggets to take the temperature of the sampled electorate. For our purposes today, as the headline suggests, our focus is on how many New Hampshire voters would not vote for Chris Christie under any circumstance.
The UNH Poll included a graph depicting whom voters, regardless of circumstance, refused to vote.
60% of those polled will not vote for Christie, double that of the “combative” and troublesome Trump. Is that why Camp Christie is running new ads comparing him to Reagan?
Yesterday, the St Aselm’s Poll produced a similar result to UNH. Chris Christie is the least popular Republican running.
Former Governor Chris Christie has succeeded in branding himself as the harshest critic of Trump, but at a cost. Although he has picked up the support of 29% of respondents who have an unfavorable impression of Trump, he has virtually no support from respondents who view Trump favorably. His 46-point net negative favorability (25%-71%) will likely put a hard ceiling on his potential growth.
To be fair to Chris-Chris, we were fans when he first got elected governor of New Jersey and went toe-to-toe with the Unions. He made great arguments in defense of taxpayers and education. It was also nice to see a Republican who didn’t back down a trait he abandoned when his president could have used some support. Instead of backing the man and helping debunk the left’s BS – which he has the skills to do – Chris-Chris chose the other side.
How do you support that guy, knowing he can’t be relied upon to defend anyone that’s not him? That is the problem many voters have with Pence. He could have stood tall, but instead, he folded like a big tent. And UNH and St. Anselm’s polls show Mike Pence failing to escape whatever disdain is held for him, no doubt the result of Trump voters who would rather wash Nancy Pelosi’s crooked feet than vote for Pence.
Okay, that’s a stretch, but you get what I assume you can’t unsee. New Jersey’s answer to Mr. Stay Puft is unpopular despite or becasue of the ads he’s been running all summer and the devotion of Trump supporters to Trump, no matter what – which leads me to one more point.
The devotion of Pro-Trumpers and Never-Trumpers. We encourage everyone, regardless of who they support, to make their case in as civil a manner as they are able. Cults of personality aside, and that works both ways. The Trump or bust folks should try not to appear like zealots, but those who insist a Trump nomination will destroy GOP chances down-ticket need to take a breath. I’m not saying you are right or wrong. I don’t know the answer. The dynamics of Presidential years and Party efforts are different than off years.
My point is that while you are bemoaning the progressive political elite and how they think they know better or refuse to listen to the majority, that’s not bad advice for your party. Whether you like Trump or not, he’s polling as high as 60% among Republican primary voters. In New Hampshire, except for pre-collapse DeSantis in March, Trump has held a double-digit lead.
If you’d like that to change, you need to embrace the Sununu strategy and convince the laggards sucking the rest of the air out of the room to drop out. The problem there, of course, is that to do this, you’d have to do what you’ve been trying to get Trump supporters to do – abandon their candidate. And so far, he’s the only one with a base prepared to support him come hell or high water.
We thought Ron DeSantis could be that guy, but with four months to go, give or take a week here and there, he is headed in the wrong direction. Whatever the plan is, it needs to start soon, or you’ll never get close to Trump in time to prevent his nomination. If that doesn’t appeal, might your time and energy be more productive trying to clean up the election integrity issues?
At this point, it hardly matters who the Republican nominee is if the swing state election processes are in the same shape as they’ve been since 2020.
If Christie is such a fighter for the people, try something that might make you more popular with every Republican voter. Try roaming the swing states, building legal support to clean up elections, prosecutor, or at least finding lawyers who will actually work to prevent fraud instead of sitting on their hands watching it happen.
That fraud hurts Republicans up and down the ticket, and it harms Americans.
