Christie's approval rating remains low in New Jersey

HAMDEN, Conn., Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Gov. Chris Christie's approval rating remains low in New Jersey as the 2016 presidential race begins to take shape, a poll released Wednesday said.

The Quinnipiac University Poll found that only 46 percent of Garden Staters give Christie a passing grade. His approval rating last topped 50 percent in a January 2014 poll released just as the Bridgegate scandal was taking off.

"It's the traffic nightmare that never ends for New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie," said the poll's Assistant Director Maurice Carroll. "He was doing fine until one year ago and then, WHAM! Bridgegate hit like a 10-car pileup on the George Washington Bridge and the governor has yet to recover."

No evidence has become public that Christie colluded in the closing of access lanes to the bridge that caused four days of major traffic jams in Fort Lee, N.J., in September 2013. Emails were released between a Christie staffer in Trenton and one of his appointees to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey suggesting that the closings were designed to punish Fort Lee, possibly because its Democratic mayor refused to endorse Christie when he ran for a second term as governor in 2013.

While 65 percent of those polled said Christie has strong leadership qualities, only about 40 percent approved of his handling of critical problems like the economy and jobs, the state government and education. About half said they do not find him trustworthy and do not believe he cares about their problems.

Christie has made no formal announcement about running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, although he has been spending a lot of time on the road.

Quinnipiac interviewed 1,211 New Jersey voters between Jan. 15 and Jan. 19. The margin of error is 2.8 percent.