If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

POLITICS

44% Have Favorable View of Christie, 29% Like Rubio

Most Republicans have favorable opinions of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and freshman Florida Senator Marco Rubio, but for a sizable chunk of voters both men are largely unknown.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 44% of Likely U.S. Voters have at least a somewhat favorable opinion of Christie, while 31% view him unfavorably.  These figures include 14% with a Very Favorable opinion of the outspoken first-term governor and 13% who see him Very Unfavorably.  Twenty-six percent (26%) don’t know enough about Christie to offer any opinion of him.  (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

A couple weeks ago, amidst speculation that Christie might enter the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, 38% expressed a favorable view of him, while 27% registered an unfavorable opinion.

Rubio, considered a rising star in the GOP, earns favorable reviews from 29% of voters, with 15% Very Favorable.  Slightly more (31%) have an unfavorable impression of him, including 14% with a Very Unfavorable opinion.  But 41% have no opinion of the Senate newcomer.

Among GOP voters, however, 71% share a favorable opinion of Christie, and 55% think favorably of Rubio. The plurality of Democrats regard both men unfavorably. Among voters not affiliated with either of the major parties, nearly one-third (31%) venture no opinion of Christie, and nearly half (49%) have no opinion of Rubio.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).  Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on October 12-13, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Want to read more?

Become a Rasmussen Reader to read the article

Have an account?

Log In

Become a Reader

Subscribe

Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.

We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.

Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.

To learn more about our methodology, click here.