Vice Christie? Voters Put NJ Governor In The Vice President Mix [AUDIO]

People around the country are still talking about New Jersey Governor Christie as a potential Republican Vice Presidential candidate.

• NJ Decides: Presidential Election 2012
• GOP Campaign

The Garden State’s chief executive continues to downplay the idea, but according to a new national poll of registered voters by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind, Americans still have Christie on their mind.

Asked who should be the Republican nominee for Vice President, Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio tops the list, followed by the surging former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. Peter Woolley, a political science professor and the director of the poll says, “What is surprising is number-three which is Governor Chris Christie and his name hadn’t been mentioned in the questionnaire so people coming up with Chris Christie’s name are coming up with that on their own.”

Rubio is mentioned 66 times in the study, or a little more than 8 percent of the time, by a mixture of registered Republicans, “lean” Republicans, and independents. Santorum was mentioned 56 times.

Christie is mentioned 47 times, or 6%, without any prompt, placing third in mentions ahead of Sarah Palin, the GOP’s Vice Presidential candidate last time around. Woolley says, “Anytime you place ahead of Sarah Palin, call yourself a winner. Her name recognition and presence are formidable.”

Newt Gingrich, another active presidential candidate, who was considered hot two months ago, has fallen to the back of the pack, not just for President, but for Vice-President too. He had 60 mentions in the December poll tying him for second place, but just 32 mentions in the recent study, placing fifth.

Ron Paul is in sixth place. Paul is followed by Mitt Romney, the putative but struggling front runner for the nomination, with just 16 mentions. In a similar poll in December, he was suggested 38 times.

Michele Bachmann, who dropped out of the presidential race, has also disappeared from vice-presidential sight. She got 60 mentions in the December poll, nearly as many as Marco Rubio, but gets just 16 mentions in the recent study.

Many other names were offered from Hillary Clinton to David Duke.

“Ronald Reagan was summoned from the grave by one respondent,” says Woolley “Clearly, that person has watched too many of Republican debates.”

The poll of 799 registered Republican and independent voters nationwide was conducted by both landlines and cell phones from Feb. 6 through Feb.12, 2012, and has a margin of error of +/-3.5 percentage points.