--- title: Chris Christie on His 15% Approval Rating: ‘Who Cares?’ description: Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey might be the least popular governor anywhere in 20 years, but that doesn't seem to bother him canonical: https://time.com/4826319/chris-christie-new-jersey-approval-rating-who-cares/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-21T12:06:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:14:43.401Z article:section: Politics og:title: Chris Christie on His 15% Approval Rating: ‘Who Cares?’ og:description: "Poll numbers matter when you’re running for something" og:url: https://time.com/4826319/chris-christie-new-jersey-approval-rating-who-cares/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48a77a5ada68bde3/6988d288fb4eac12828928d2/gettyimages-513533254.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4805 og:image:height: 2703 og:image:alt: Chris Christie Holds Press Conference On Jobs And The Economy In Trenton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chris Christie on His 15% Approval Rating: ‘Who Cares?’ twitter:description: "Poll numbers matter when you’re running for something" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48a77a5ada68bde3/6988d288fb4eac12828928d2/gettyimages-513533254.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Chris Christie on His 15% Approval Rating: ‘The Fact Is, Who Cares?’ > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Jun 21, 2017 12:06 PM UTC  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Jeff Zelevansky—Getty by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Jun 21, 2017 12:06 PM UTC [New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie](http://time.com/4789262/chris-christie-donald-trump-michael-flynn/) low approval ratings don’t seem to bother him. “The fact is, who cares?” Christie said at a press conference Tuesday when a reported asked if his approval ratings could go lower, [Politico reported. ](http://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2017/06/20/christie-on-15-approval-rating-i-dont-care-112922)“You guys care much more about that stuff than I do. I’ve said to you over and over and over again: Poll numbers matter when you’re running for something. When you’re not running for something, they don’t matter a bit. And I don’t care.” Only 15% of New Jersey voters of approve the governor’s job, [according to a Quinnipiac poll earlier this month.](http://time.com/4818151/chris-christie-poll-new-jersey/) His disapproval rating went up to 81%, breaking his previous record of 77%, according to the poll. After seeing high approval ratings for his handling of Hurricane Sandy, his administration was soon after dogged by the [“Bridgegate” scandal](http://time.com/3844091/chris-christie-bridgegate-indictments/), which led to the conviction of two of Christie’s former aides. His approval ratings continued the downward trend since his [failed presidential bid.](http://time.com/4239160/chris-christie-endorses-donald-trump-for-president/) The election for a successor to Christie, who was once [an early favorite for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination](http://time.com/3941549/chris-christie-launches/), will take place this November. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4826319/chris-christie-new-jersey-approval-rating-who-cares/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4826319/chris-christie-new-jersey-approval-rating-who-cares/"},"headline":"Chris Christie on His 15% Approval Rating: ‘The Fact Is, Who Cares?’","datePublished":"2017-06-21T12:06:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:14:43.401Z","description":"\"Poll numbers matter when you’re running for something\"","url":"https://time.com/4826319/chris-christie-new-jersey-approval-rating-who-cares/","keywords":["States","New Jersey","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48a77a5ada68bde3/6988d288fb4eac12828928d2/gettyimages-513533254.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa Marie Segarra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48a77a5ada68bde3/6988d288fb4eac12828928d2/gettyimages-513533254.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Chris Christie Holds Press Conference On Jobs And The Economy In Trenton","caption":"Chris Christie Holds Press Conference On Jobs And The Economy In Trenton","creditText":"Jeff Zelevansky—Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/states/","name":"States"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4826319/chris-christie-new-jersey-approval-rating-who-cares/","name":"Chris Christie on His 15% Approval Rating: ‘The Fact Is, Who Cares?’"}}]}] ```