In Chris Christie’s world, it matters not if fewer than 2 in 10 of your constituents actually like the job you are doing as Governor. All that really matters is that Donald Trump is still your buddy.
On Tuesday, Christie was asked to respond to recent polling which indicated as few as 15% of residents of New Jersey where he serves as governor actually approve of the job he’s doing.
Apparently unfazed by the abysmal number, Christie coolly responded, “I don’t care.” According to the Governor, he could care less about what his constituents think of the job he is doing because he is not planning to run for re-election.
“It would be nice if people actually polled voters or people who are likely to vote, because everybody else’s opinion, quite frankly, doesn’t matter about whether you like a public official or you don’t — unless you’re willing to move forward and exercise that preference at the polling places.”
To anyone with a brain, that would indicate that Christie never cared about the actual job he was doing, nor the people he served. The only time a silly thing like “approval” actually matters is when one is trying to grab more power, or keep the power one has.
When a reporter asked a follow-up question to Christie, inquiring whether he thought his approval rating might drop even lower, the Governor responded testily.
“That fact is, who cares? You guys care much more about that stuff than I do. I’ve said to you over and over and over again: Poll numbers matter when you’re running for something. When you’re not running for something, they don’t matter a bit. And I don’t care.”
Of course some would suggest that having such a dramatically low approval rating would be grounds for resignation. After all, there must be a reason that 85% of New Jersey residents hate your guts. Still, Christie has made it clear that he plans to bluster his way through the remainder of his term, approval rating be damned.
I guess after facing near criminal charges and monumentally losing a presidential campaign, the sneers and jeers of the people you serve might sting a little less.
