Chris Christie Is Still Popular But There’s A Gender Gap [AUDIO]

Governor Chris Christie’s approval numbers are strong, but it appears he has his work cut out for him if he’s going to win over women in the Garden State.

Quinnipiac University is out with a new poll this morning that also shows Christie didn’t get a bounce from his keynote address last week at the Republican National Convention.

Today, Christie gets a 53 – 42 percent job approval rating which is barely changed from the a 54 – 39 percent job approval he got in a July 17 survey by Quinnipiac. Men approve of Christie 62 – 34 percent while women are divided with 46 percent approving and 49 percent disapproving.

Poll Director Mickey Carroll says, “Governor Christie gets OK job-approval numbers overall and a solid plus among men, but he needs to do more work to win women (and) the racial gap is huge.”

In today’s survey, white voters approve 60 – 36 percent while black voters disapprove 67 – 24 percent.

While 58 percent of New Jersey voters watched Christie’ keynote speech, only 22 percent of voters say it makes them think more favorably of him. 18 percent think less favorably and 54 percent say the speech did not affect their opinion.

“If Governor Christopher Christie’s speech marked the opening of a 2016 presidential campaign, he might want to try again,” says Carroll. “People who like the Governor liked the speech; those who don’t didn’t. The net result – zero.”

Quinnipiac also checked for voters’ bias in today’s poll. Overwhelming majorities of New Jersey voters say they would not vote against a candidate because of the candidate’s religion or other qualities, but 39 percent say they are less likely to vote for an atheist and 30 percent are less likely to vote for a Muslim.

Other biases are: 17 percent are less likely to vote for a born-again Christian; 15 percent are less likely to vote for an overweight or obese person; 12 percent are less likely to vote for a Mormon; 11 percent are less likely to vote for a gay or lesbian; 3 percent are less likely to vote for a woman; and 1 percent is less likely to vote for an African American.

Carroll explains, “Looking ahead to the state (gubernatorial) vote in 2013, only 3 percent would be less likely to vote for a woman, such as State Senator Barbara Buono, and only 1 percent is less likely to vote for an African-American like (Newark) Mayor Corey Booker.”

From August 27 – September 2, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,560 registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points. Live interviewers called land lines and cell phones.