New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s political future may look a little brighter today, thanks to a new CNN poll.
The latest CNN/ORC International poll, which surveyed 1,012 Americans by telephone between July 18 and 20, put Christie at the top of the GOP field for 2016.
The survey, released on Sunday, found that 13% of Republicans or Republican-leaning conservatives supported Christie for the GOP nomination in 2016; it represents a boost for Christie. The governor’s support for the GOP nomination was 5 percentage points less in the same poll six weeks ago. Christie earned around 8% or 9% for most of the spring.
Christie led some presidential polls last year, but the Bridgegate scandal caused his numbers to tank and, along with it, some said, his political future.
The latest CNN poll, however, indicates that the New Jersey governor may have outlasted the scandal, even as a federal investigation into possible abuses of power by the governor’s administration continues. As usual, Democrats were far more unified in their 2016 picks: 67% of Democrats and left-leaning independents surveyed said they would support former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, according to the poll. Still, it’s unlikely Christie will have an easy road should he decide to make a bid for the White House. An NBC News/Marist poll released earlier this month found that more Republicans had negative feelings about him than they did about others in the party.
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