New poll puts Chris Christie ahead of GOP pack

Cross-posted at the Washington Examiner....

Chris Christie, according to a new poll, leads the pack of possible GOP candidates for the 2012 presidential election. Polls published by Gallup and CNN have asked opinions about possible Republican presidential candidates such as Huckabee, Romney, Gingrich, and Palin but one name has been absent: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

In October 2010 Christie was the surprising winner of a presidential straw poll held at the Virginia Tea Party Convention that included 12 Republicans and two Democrats. That he was able to pull together a win with tea party activists over the other notable GOP names should say something to pollsters and, though he is adamant that he's not interested in running at this time, it's obvious the public is interested in him.

Now a new just-released poll by Newsmax/IBOPE Zogby shows that Christie led the GOP pack by double digits over the next nearest competitor. With likely Republican primary voters he garnered 26.3% followed by Sarah Palin with 10.3%. They were followed by Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann, Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty, Donald Trump, Mitch Daniels, and Haley Barbour.

John Zogby had thoughts on why Christie led so decisively in the field of competitors:

“Conservative voters like Chris Christie,” pollster John Zogby tells Newsmax, “because he offers an actual governing model that’s consistent with his and their philosophy.

“Essentially, he has been fearless in terms of tackling unions, tackling budget cuts, and so on,” Zogby says. “But they also know that he’s an affable personality, that he does not come off as this angry radical, but as a credible fellow.

“And at the same time,” says Zogby, “he’s portly, he’s real, he’s not out of central casting. And in many ways, for Republicans, he’s the un-Obama.”

With those kinds of numbers for Christie, perhaps other polls should begin to include him in their list of names.