Christie campaign shows signs of life as next debate approaches

Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio all saw their campaigns get a boost after strong debate performances. Gov. Christie got good reviews, but only recently have his poll number started to improve.

Because he didn’t make the main debate stage, Christie might not be able to have a breakout moment in the fourth GOP presidential debate scheduled for Tuesday night in Milwaukee. That doesn't mean he’s finished, said two political experts.

“We have seen some better numbers for Chris Christie,” said Ben Dworkin, a political science professor at Rider University. “He’s moved up in New Hampshire from two percent to about eight percent. That’s a huge jump and if he can continue that, if other polls show that kind of rise then we will see it’s going to be Chris Christie’s time to shine.”

A large field of Republican presidential candidates is like a jazz ensemble where every section of the band gets a solo Dworkin said. He noted that Carson, Fiorina, Rubio and Jeb Bush have had their solos while Christie was still waiting.

“Chris Christie is still there and his is due for his solo which means his numbers will go up. He’ll get a huge amount of media attention and people will start saying, ‘Maybe this is the traditional elected official that we would go with as a party as opposed to one of these outsiders,’” Dworkin said.

It’s not just Christie slowly improving poll numbers that could help him emerge as a viable presidential candidate according to Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

“There’s no candidate running for president, either Democrat or Republican who has more raw political talent than Chris Christie and he’s been using that to his advantage certainly in the TV appearance, the media appearances and also the town halls,” said Murray.

Christie has also been able to recently turn around his anemic favorability ratings in both Iowa and New Hampshire and that says something about his staying power Murray explained.

“One thing voters look at is, ‘Do I like this guy?’ For Chris Christie they went from not liking him to liking him and that’s huge change for Chris Christie and I think a lot of it has to do with his debate performances as well as his performances in a lot of other venues as well,” he said.

Kevin McArdle has covered the State House for New Jersey 101.5 news since 2002. Contact him at kevin.mcardle@townsquaremedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @kevinmcardle1.