Chris Christie, who was recently taken hostage by Donald Trump, has bigger problems than Trump’s Super Tuesday victory speech. The governor’s constituents are unhappy with his failed presidential run, and an editorial published by six New Jersey newspapers Wednesday calls outright for Christie to step down. “We’re fed up with his long neglect of the state to pursue his own selfish agenda,” the editorial reads. “New Jersey needs someone whose full attention is devoted to making life better for New Jersey’s citizens. That won’t happen until Christie steps down or is forced out.”
The piece, which appeared in the Asbury Park Press, Bridgewater Courier News, East Brunswick Home News Tribune, Morristown Daily Record, Cherry Hill Courier Post, and Vineland Daily Journal, goes on to list grievances against Christie including his refusal to take “off topic” questions from reporters at a recent press conference, his out-of-state travel on New Jersey’s dime (an expense that’s climbed to $1 million since he took office), his endorsement of someone “who disagrees with him on virtually every important issue,” and his tendency to put “personal ambition ahead of the interests of New Jersey citizens.” What’s more, the editorial says, New Jersey Republicans have done little to hold Christie accountable, and Democrats are too weak to fill the power vacuum.
And it’s not just journalists who disapprove of Christie; a poll out Wednesday shows record-low approval ratings for the governor statewide. Only 30 percent of Christie’s constituents approve of his job performance, and in the days after he announced he would support Trump’s presidential bid, Christie’s ratings dropped 6 whole percentage points. When voters were asked to describe him in one word, they most often chose bully or arrogant. If his White House bid was supposed to reestablish credibility with voters, Christie blew it.
His approval ratings are likely to take an even bigger nosedive thanks to his bullish stance on the impending New Jersey Transit strike. He’s called transportation unions’ demands for pay raises and lower insurance premiums “outrageous,” and he doesn’t exactly have a great relationship with public-sector unions in the first place. If Christie can’t reach an agreement with those workers, New Jersey commuters will be, as Gawker put it, “downright fucked.” From the looks of it, New Jersey’s list of grievances with its governor is about to get longer.
