Back on Dec. 30, I noted National Journal magazine had declared Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., one of the political winners of 2013. In bestowing this honor on Gov. Christie, the magazine cited his smashing re-election victory in a Democratic state (60 percent of the total vote, with solid support from folks who do not traditionally support Republicans) and small leads over former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on hypothetical polls for the 2016 presidential race.
Of course, that was before the infamous “Bridgegate” scandal broke. It seems Gov. Christie’s presidential prospects now are in a tailspin as a result of the controversy over traffic jams his staff orchestrated to embarrass a political rival.
On a CNN poll conducted between Jan. 31 and Feb. 2, Mrs. Clinton enjoyed a whopping 16-point lead over Gov. Christie, after the governor led by two points in December. According to CNN Polling Director Keating Holland, Gov. Christie’s standing plummeted because he lost an enormous amount of ground with registered independents.
In November, Gov. Christie had an 11-point lead over his closest rival when CNN asked Republicans who they would like to see as their next presidential nominee. On the most recent survey, however, he ran toward the middle of a pack that included former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, and Sens. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, of Texas, Florida and Kentucky, respectively.
Read about it here.
Obviously, there still is some time before the start of the next presidential race, but Gov. Christie’s CNN slump arguably is the best indication yet that Bridgegate has the potential to destroy his career. We’ll have to see how things play out, but for the moment at least, it seems Gov. Christie will have to climb quite a mountain if he hopes to get to the White House.
