Ever since news of Bridgegate broke, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been telling anyone who will listen that the story was only interesting to the national media, and that regular voters didn't care. For a time, that may have been a defensible position, but with yet another new poll showing Christie's numbers suddenly heading in the wrong direction, it's clear that Bridgegate is changing the way people view Christie — and not for the better.
Here's the latest news for Christie:
- A new poll from the Wall Street Journal and NBC News finds Christie's favorability ratings have tanked. Whereas Christie's October ratings were good — 33 percent saw him positively, 17 percent negatively — the public's current estimation of his leadership is dramatically less sanguine. The poll finds only 17 percent of respondents view Christie positively, while a full 32 percent see him in a negative light. The drop is happening across nearly all demographic groups, the Journal reports, with "not a single group of voters [viewing] Christie more positively than negatively ..."
- One of the many to sour on Chris Christie? Entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is no doubt unhappy with the governor after the latter's administration announced it would not let Musk's Tesla company use a direct-sales model to sell luxury electric car to the customer rather than through a dealership middleman. Tesla is claiming that Christie and company acted in bad faith, failing to hold up its end of a promise that would delay a regulation the car company considers "anti-Tesla."
- The New York Times has a ghoulish story about how Christie used wreckage from 9/11 for political gifts.
- A lawyer working for the New Jersey Legislature's joint committee tasked with investigating Bridgegate hints that there remains important documents being held by former Christie aides instead of shared with the committee.
- And a recent report, again in the Times, takes a look at how Christie's long been using the Port Authority as a political tool to reward friends, punish enemies and provide cash whenever Christie needed it but didn't want to raise taxes.
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