Poll finds Christie with multi-party appeal

WASHINGTON, June 5 (UPI) -- Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is nearly equally liked by Democrats, Republicans and independents, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll indicates.

Christie is unique among Republicans because of the close relationship he has formed with Democratic President Barack Obama, NBC News reported Tuesday.

That's reflected in the poll, which found 43 percent of Democrats saw Christie in a positive light, compared to 40 percent of Republicans and 41 percent of independents.

Among all those surveyed, Christie was seen favorably by 41 percent while 12 percent perceived him negatively.

Obama, on the other hand, got a mixed ranking from those polled: 47 percent approved of the Democratic president while 40 percent didn't. Democrat Hillary Clinton, who has received a lot of buzz as a possible presidential candidate in 2016, got a 49 percent/31 percent favorable/unfavorable ranking.

Christie Tuesday won the GOP primary for governor. He won office in 2009 in an upset victory against Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine and has been a frequent focus of grumbling by conservative Republicans, most recently Tuesday when he decided to hold a special election to fill the seat of the late Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg instead of appointing a Republican until the 2014 election.

The poll found Republicans favored other prominent party politicians more than Christie. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush got a 48 percent favorability ranking, compared to Christie's 40 percent.

One thousand adults were interviewed in the survey, which was conducted between May 30 and June 2. The margin of error was 3.1 percentage points.