Gov. Chris Christie’s new public policy institute and the renewed spotlight that comes alongside it may help Gov. Phil Murphy and his Democratic counterparts in the legislature.
“Murphy was always the post-Christie governor, and he’s always going to be the post-Christie governor,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of Rider University’s Rebovich Institute. “Anything that reminds the public of that is a good thing for Murphy given Christie’s continued unpopularity.”
On Thursday, NJ Advanced Media reported Christie will soon lead a Seton Hall University public policy institute bearing his name. The institute will focus on national issues and civility in politics.
According to a January 2018 poll by Rutgers University’s Eagleton Center for Public Interest polling, Christie left office with a 19% approval rating and 13% favorability, making him New Jersey’s least popular living governor apart from former State Senate President Donald DiFrancesco, who served for less than one year.
Murphy still frequently uses Christie as a political punching bag more than a year and a half into his first term, frequently bringing up his predecessor’s tenure — by name or not — when addressing issues with NJ Transit and the state’s economy, among other things.
Still, the institute’s focus on national issues could prove to be a silver lining for New Jersey Republicans aiming to leverage Murphy in their own campaigns.
“He’s going after big national issues, that’s what he says. It’s not going to be New Jersey, so to the extent that Chris Christie is focusing this on national issues and not New Jersey issues, it’s a little bit more difficult for Murphy to go after him,” Seton Hall University political science professor Matt Hale said. “If this institute was all about New Jersey, I think Murphy would have a foil or attempt to have a foil.”
Still, Christie’s name making a resurgence in headlines might make it more difficult for candidates like Cumberland County GOP Chairman Michael Testa, who is running for the first legislative district’s State Senate seat, to leverage the current governor in their campaigns.
Campaign attacks on Murphy are already something of a tough sell. According to a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released in June, the current governor boasts approvals of 42%-32%. Close to a third of voters don’t even know who Murphy is.
“By virtue of being the next governor, he was always going to be the governor that came after the Christie chapter,” Rasmussen said. “So to the extent that Christie reminds the public of that, yea, I think that’s probably a good thing for Murphy, but having said all of that, I don’t know how many districts Murphy is going to be a decisive factor in.”
DiFrancesco was Governor for nearly a year.
I want to see criminals reform in NJ, as the mother of and inmate I know how this system is not fair. We need it. If the Democrat want to win they have to address this problem.