Former President Donald Trump completely dominates New Jersey’s hypothetical 2024 primary, garnering support from over 70 percent of Republicans and Republican leaners in the Garden State.
The latest Fairleigh Dickinson University poll, released Wednesday, asked respondents — Republicans and Republican leaners — to indicate how likely they are to support Trump in the 2024 Republican primary race, regardless of who else throws their hat in the presidential primary.
Overall, 71 percent indicated that they are at least “likely” to support the former president in next year’s Republican primary. Of those, 40 percent said they will “definitely” support Trump, regardless of who else is running in that race.
The survey then asked a similar question but applied it to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is reportedly mulling a White House bid. It asked Republicans and Republican leaners if they would consider voting for Christie in the GOP primary race. Just a quarter, overall, said they would consider voting for him, compared to 69 percent who said they would not consider doing so.
The survey also conducted an experiment to see if Trump’s indictment would affect his standing in New Jersey. It does not change an individual’s view of Trump, although it does assist other potential candidates, such as Christie, the survey found.
Emphasis added:
To examine the effect of the indictments on a potential primary challenge from Christie, an experiment was embedded in the poll. Half of the respondents were asked about the indictments before being asked about support for Christie or Trump; half were asked about the indictments only afterward. Forty percent of Republicans (and independents who say that they lean towards the Republican Party) say that they will “definitely” support Trump in a 2024 Republican Primary, and asking about the indictments beforehand doesn’t change this number at all.
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But reminding Republicans and leaners about the indictment does have an effect, even if it doesn’t change support for Trump. When Republicans are asked about potential support for Christie before being asked about Trump’s legal issues, only 21 percent say that they would consider supporting the former Governor. But among those who are reminded of the indictment, 29 percent say that they would consider supporting Christie, a significant increase. Put another way, thinking about the indictments makes Republicans more likely to support other candidates, even if it doesn’t change their views of Trump.
Christie has made it crystal clear that he does not intend to support Trump in 2024, making the remarks during a March appearance at St. Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics event.
“You know, Donald Trump said a couple of weeks ago, ‘I am your retribution.’ Guess what, everybody? No thanks. No thanks,” Christie said. “If I was going to pay somebody to be my retribution, I guarantee this, it wouldn’t be him.”
“Here’s why it wouldn’t be him, because he doesn’t want to be my retribution. That’s baloney,” the former governor added. “The only person he cares about is him. And if we haven’t learned that since Election Day of 2020 to today, then we are not paying attention.”
Christie, a former Trump supporter, also outlined the need for a GOP challenger who will confront Trump on the debate stage.
“You better have somebody on that stage who can do to [Trump] what I did to Marco because that’s the only thing that’s going to defeat Donald Trump… And that means you’ve got to have the skill to do it,” he said.
“And that means you have to be fearless, because he will come right back at you. So you need to think about who’s got the skill to do that. And who’s got the guts to do it? Because it’s not going to end nicely. No matter what, his end will not be calm and quiet,” Christie, who, like many others, is expected to make a decision in the coming months, added.
Watch — Chris Christie: After Midterms, GOP Needs to Dump Selfish Trump
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