New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (center) visits FEMA personnel // credit: Liz Roll (FEMA)
In today's political climate, it's difficult to find a politician that voters of opposing political affiliations can agree on. Chris Christie, the Republican Governor of New Jersey, is quickly becoming one of those few politicians.
A poll from Public Policy Polling, released Wednesday, showed broad national support for the 2016 presidential hopeful. Currently in the midst of a re-election campaign, Gov. Christie has struck a rare rapport with Republicans, Democrats, and especially Independents.
The PPP poll found Independents led both Democrats and Republicans in terms of favorability. Forty-five percent of Independents, compared to 41 percent of Republicans, and 40 percent of Democrats responded positively when asked, "Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Chris Christie?"
This surge of momentum has padded the Governor's campaign coffers significantly, with an unusual base of support coming in from California's tech industry. According to the Wall Street Journal, he raised over $590,000 from California residents alone; beating out donations from New York voters, who have contributed about $372,000 to date.
"Companies represented on the campaign filing included executives from Facebook, Pinterest Inc., LinkedIn Corp., Yahoo Inc., Zynga Inc, eBay Inc., and Dropbox filings show. Nine executives from Facebook made donations totaling more than $34,000. More than 75% of Mr. Christie's reportable contributions from California donors were $3,800, the maximum amount in New Jersey."The current approval rating for Gov. Christie is a lofty 68 percent according to a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released last month. Whether or not he'll maintain his broader appeal with Democrats and Independents past November remains to be seen. In the meantime however, when money talks, Chris Christie listens.