Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said former President Donald Trump‘s poll numbers among GOP voters would “be sounding the five-alarm fire bell” for any other “incumbent” presidential nominee.
Christie, while speaking on Fox News Radio’s The Guy Benson Show on Thursday, said Trump was the de facto incumbent on the Republican side because he won the two previous GOP presidential nominations, and Christie argued he does not have an insurmountable lead.
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“Look, I think that two things that, you know, one, Guy, is that the race isn’t gonna change until people start to vote. It’s just not. You have an incumbent involved here — he’s essentially an incumbent,” Christie said. “He’s a two-time nominee, and as the incumbent, he’s going to have great name ID and loyalty advantages off the top. So I’m not surprised to see it still being the way it is.”
“But secondly, remember something like in the poll that just came out in New Hampshire today? He’s at 42%, Guy. I mean, if any other incumbent were at 42% inside their own party, they would be sounding the five-alarm fire bell. And, you know, he is not in good shape, even inside of his own party. He’s in worse shape with the general electorate, and, you know, that’s gonna come to fore as people start to really focus on this race and decide,” he added.
A CNN poll released on Thursday showed Trump leading the GOP field in New Hampshire with 42%, followed by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at 20%, Christie at 14%, and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) at 9%. Christie also said from his previous experience running for president in 2016 that he understands that voters make up their minds just before the primary and argued that polls this far out from the vote are not clear indicators of how the primary will turn out.
“I remember 2016. I remember the statistic after the race in New Hampshire in 2016 — 51% of the voters who voted in the primary said they decided in the last three days. And of that, 20% of all the voters said that they decided on Election Day. So anybody who thinks they know what’s going to happen in this race is wrong,” Christie said.
The former New Jersey governor also discussed how he is hopeful Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) will endorse him, as the Granite State governor has teased an endorsement in the Republican primary in the coming weeks.
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“Chris is a great friend, has been a friend for a dozen years. I hope to get his endorsement. I hope he endorses someone, and if he does, I hope he endorses me because I’d love to have his help in his home state,” Christie said.
The New Hampshire Republican presidential primary is set for Jan. 23.
