Opinion: Chris Christie Should Drop Out
When looking at the polls for the Republican Party Presidential primary, things do not look good for Chris Christie. Right now, he is polling at just ~3.5% nationally. Things are looking slightly better for him in the state that he has given his most attention to, New Hampshire, but he still polls at just ~11.6%. Looking at these numbers, in comparison to how other Republicans are polling nationally and in important primary states, Christie does not appear to have any viable path to the White House. This unfortunate reality for Christie, in addition to his repeated claims about the damage Trump would do if he won the primary, leads me to the strong belief that it is in Chris Christie’s own best interest for him to drop out now.
To make it more obvious as to why Christie should drop out to achieve his own goals, it is essential to consider the fact of how much Christie does not want Trump to be president. In addition to his claims about the danger Trump poses to democracy and the jabs Christie has repeatedly made about the former president—including calling him “Donald Duck” for “ducking” questions and debates and Voldemort since no other candidate is eager to say his name—Christie has fundamental policy disagreements with Trump. Christie has made multiple visits to the active war site of Ukraine and has denounced Trump’s more isolationist foreign policy approach. An example of a domestic policy disagreement between Trump and Christie is on social security benefits. Christie says that fundamental reforms and cuts must be made in order to keep the program alive for future generations, a commitment that Trump is unwilling to make. In a multitude of ways, personal and political, it seems exceedingly clear that one of Christie’s main motivations in running for president is so that Trump does not see reelection.
Combining the facts that it seems like Christie won’t win and the fact that he does not want the current front runner—Trump—to win, what position is Christie left in? I believe that Christie has the best shot of achieving his goal to stop Trump by leaving the race and endorsing someone else. My prediction is that he would support Nikki Haley. The former New Jersey governor has, in multiple debates and speeches, seemed to have a preference for Haley over the other major candidates. When Haley was attacked by Vivek Ramaswamy during the December 6th debate, Christie took a portion of his very limited speaking time to defend Haley. He hasn’t done anything like that to any other candidate, leading to the appearance of Christie’s favorite viable candidate being Haley.
One caveat to note is that there is a possibility in which Trump is removed from the 2024 Presidential ballot and is ineligible to become the party’s nominee. If this did happen, then it would make sense for Christie to remain in the race, as he seems mostly indifferent between the other candidates winning their party’s primary if Trump is out. However, the chances that this actually happens and Trump is ineligible to become president seem immensely slim. The Supreme Court has decided to consider the case. With the 6-3 conservative majority court, it seems nearly impossible for them to decide that Trump is unable to become president. Thus, as Trump almost certainly will be on the primary ballot when it comes time to vote, this caveat can be mostly disregarded. If/once Trump is reaffirmed to be a possible candidate, it would be best for Christie to immediately drop out and endorse someone else.
Looking at Christie’s main goal in this race—to stop Trump from winning—how Christie is performing in the polls, and the current status of the GOP primary as a whole, it seems pretty clear that it is in Chris Christie's own best interest to drop out of the race ASAP.
"Chris Christie" by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.