Another poll puts Christie at zero percent in presidential race

Once again, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is at zero percent among potential candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, this time in a national poll released today by Quinnipiac University.

But the poll has some good news for Christie: he’s at 1% among moderate and liberal Republicans.

Former President Donald Trump leads Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by six percentage points, 42%-36%, in a poll of Republican and Republican-leaning voters.    Among Republicans, Trump has a 17-point lead, 48%-31%, and among GOP leaners, DeSantis is ahead 50%-24%.

Trump and DeSantis are in a dead heat when the field of candidates is narrowed to four, including Haley and Pence: Trump leads 43%-41%, with Haley at 6% and Pence at 4%.

A general election matchup is too close to call, with President Joe Biden leading Trump, 48%-46%; Biden has a 47%-46% lead over DeSantis.

Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, is in third place with 5%.  Former Vice President Mike Pence and former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are both at 4%, followed by Ted Cruz (2%), Liz Cheney (2%) and Tim Scott (1%).

Quinnipiac offered up the names of fourteen candidates, but Christie and the other five potential candidates named — Larry Hogan, Asa Hutchinson,  Kristi Noem, Chris Sununu, and Glenn Youngkin – hit one percent.

“They are either officially in the hunt, or their names are in the GOP conversation, but the early horse race comes down to just two names,” said Tim Malloy, a Quinnipiac University polling analyst.

Christie is eight points behind his placement in a March 2015 Quinnipiac poll that had Scott Walker leading Jeb Bush, 18%-16%, with Christie and Mike Huckabee tied for third.

The Quinnipiac poll places Biden’s favorables at an underwater 38%-54% and his job approvals at an upside-down 40%-55%.  Trump’s favorables are also negative: 37%-57%.

Nearly 70% of Americans believe Trump intentionally retained classified documents, while 48% say Biden’s possession of classified documents from his time as Vice President was deliberate

“Were the top-secret papers taken by design or by mistake?  A large majority of Americans figure former President Trump made a conscious decision to take them home, while his V.P., and to some extent his successor, are more apt to be given the benefit of the doubt,” Malloy said.

The Quinnipiac poll was conducted between February 9-14 with a sample size of 1,429 registered voters and a margin of error of +/- 2.5%; the Republican poll had a sample size of 592 with a margin of error of +/-  4%.