A pair of new polls put New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's job approval at or near record lows.
Christie is tied with former Democratic Gov. Jim Florio for the second-worst in recent history as 18 percent of registered voters surveyed in a Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind poll released Tuesday approve of the Republican's performance. Seventy-three percent disapprove.
Florio's job-approval reached 18 percent in 1990 after he signed tax increases and he lost a second term to Republican Christie Whitman. Democrat Brendan Byrne was the least popular governor with the support of just 17 percent after he signed New Jersey's income tax into law in 1977.
The survey shows over half of Republicans polled disapprove of Christie's leadership while only a third approve.
The survey of 836 registered voters has a sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
A Quinnipiac University Poll also released Tuesday found that 77 percent of New Jersey voters disapprove of Christie with only 19 percent approving, the lowest approval rating in more than 20 years of the poll.
The poll also found that 48 percent surveyed believe Christie personally ordered the "Bridgegate" traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge.
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"How the mighty have fallen," said Quinnipiac assistant poll director Maurice Carrol. "Remember four years ago, when Republican leaders were pleading with New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie to run for president and he looked like a sure thing for reelection – which he was? Now the neighbors have handed him the most dubious of honors, the lowest approval rating ever measured for a governor in the states surveyed by the Quinnipiac University Poll."
