Despite the fact that the teacher's unions have spent millions to buy TV ads attacking his budget cuts [7], the latest public opinion poll [8] shows Chris Christie's strong medicine has won over a majority of New Jersey residents.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely New Jersey Voters shows that 51% approve of how the new Republican governor is doing his job, while 45% disapprove. This includes 33% who Strongly Approve and 31% who Strongly Disapprove.
These findings mark little, if any, change from mid-April.
Forty-six percent (46%) of Garden State voters give Christie good or excellent marks for his handling of the budget crisis. Thirty-six percent (36%) rate his performance in this area as poor.
Christie has been battling the Democratic-controlled legislature and the state’s powerful public employee unions over his proposed $29.3 billion budget, which includes substantial spending cuts in several areas. ...
Again, this is AFTER the unions have spent millions on ads fighting his cuts, which probably means a few things: 1) his "we're out of money" message is getting through and 2) people are just fed up with greedy unions.
Also, remember, this is VERY blue New Jersey...not exactly a bastion of conservatism of any kind, which just feeds into the notion that one of the easiest ways to bring people down off of the fence in politics is with their pocketbook.
Here's a video clip from a speech he gave recently which is a fantastic example of a conservative Republican actually CONNECTING with people on this subject. Other Repbublicans should take note...
