A day after a poll showed Gov. Chris Christie’s approval numbers at an all-time high, a new poll shows even with the governor on the presidential ticket, President Obama would defeat Republican Mitt Romney in the Garden State.
Obama bests Romney head to head 49 percent to 40 percent, according to the Quinnipiac University poll released today. When Christie is added to the ticket as Romney’s choice for vice president, Obama’s numbers don’t change, but the Republican ticket picks up two points.
There are large gender and race gaps among supporters of the two tickets with men favoring the Romney–Christie ticket 50 to 42 and women favoring Obama 55 to 35.
White voters favor the Republican ticket by a 52 to 39 margin while black voters overwhelmingly choose Obama 89 to 6 percent.
“It’s pretty much all over but the shouting in the Republican presidential primaries, but if Gov. Mitt Romney owns New Jersey in June, President Barack Obama takes command in November. This still looks like a reliably blue state,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
“Gov. Christopher Christie on the GOP ticket as vice-presidential candidate barely trims the Democratic edge. If Christie went all out as a candidate, could he switch the state to his party? The numbers show he’d have to go into overdrive, especially among women and black voters.”
Nearly half of the state’s voters think it’s at least somewhat likely Christie will be tapped for the VP slot, but 65 percent of those polled say he’s not the right man for the job.
