Christie’s Popularity May Not Help Romney In NJ [AUDIO]

Governor Christie’s approval numbers are higher than President Obama’s in the Garden State, and Christie is a strong supporter of GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.So does that mean a lot of Jersey residents will vote for Romney if he wins the nomination?

Not necessarily, according to Patrick Murray, the Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

He says “one thing we’ve learned about voters is they are pretty savvy about knowing how to read a name on a ballot – and that’s who they vote for – is the name in front of them and not anybody who may have supported them – so even in New Jersey where Governor Christie is popular with a majority of voters, it’s unlikely to have much to do with what their selection is going to be for President.”

He says “voters here in New Jersey are worried about the economy – they’re worried particularly about jobs, and so that is right now a weakness of Obama…that’s a big issue – New Jersey has high unemployment – and that is going to have an impact on President Obama…if voters think Mitt Romney- or whoever the eventual nominee is -can do a better job on jobs, then Obama might have a problem here in New Jersey.”

Murray adds if Romney is the nominee “voters might even give a better look at Mitt Romney if the second in command could end up being their own Governor…knowing that a guy like Chris Christie could be in the White House could sway some independent minded New Jersey voters to vote for a republican when they normally wouldn’t…so really the only thing that I see where Chris Christie could sway New Jersey voters is the potential that he’s on the ballot himself as the Vice Presidential nominee.”