Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, has finally made it official: He’s dropping out of the Republican race for the presidency.
On Wednesday, Christie officially ended his bid for the GOP nomination in 2024. He was a longshot to win the nomination anyway, which is a major reason why he decided to end it.
Some political pundits believe that Christie’s decision to drop out now — before the Iowa caucuses kick off the primary season — will be a benefit to Nikki Haley, especially in New Hampshire.
That being said, even the boost it will likely provide the former ambassador to the UN probably won’t be enough to overcome Donald Trump’s huge lead in national polls.
Jay Townsend, who works as a non-partisan political consultant, recently commented to Newsweek:
“This helps Haley. Among Christie voters, she is the natural choice, and whatever support Christie had this morning will be with Haley tomorrow.”
On Tuesday, CNN released a new poll that the University of New Hampshire conducted. It shows that Haley has gotten within 7 percentage points of Trump in New Hampshire.
If Haley were able to convince enough Christie supporters to back her in the state, she actually may have a real chance to win New Hampshire. The state holds its primary on January 23.
According to that poll, 39% of Republicans who are likely to vote in the New Hampshire primary said they planned to vote for Trump. Haley had the support of 32% of voters in that poll.
At the same time, the poll revealed that Christie had 12% support in the state. That presents a golden opportunity for Haley to pick up additional voters.
Even if she were to win New Hampshire, though, Haley is unlikely to perform as well in the rest of the nation.
Haley is showing promise in both Iowa and New Hampshire, which are the first and second states to hold their caucuses/primaries, respectively.
But as CNN’s senior data reporter, Harry Enten, wrote on the social media platform X, even if she were to finish second in Iowa and first in New Hampshire, “the question/issue is then what?”
As he wrote:
“Trump’s 50-55 points ahead nationally. Trump also has a significant South Carolina lead, tho it’s closer to 30 points.”
The fact that Trump is so far ahead of Haley in South Carolina, where she served as governor at one point, says a lot about the former president’s cushion heading into primary season.
After Christie made his announcement, Haley released a statement of her own that praised Christie. It was very obvious that she was trying to play to his supporters so that they might jump ship to her side now.
In the statement, Haley said:
“Chris Christie has been a friend for many years. I commend him on a hard-fought campaign. Voters have a clear choice in this election: the chaos and drama of the past or a new generation of conservative leadership. I will fight to earn every vote, so together we can build a strong and proud America.”
