If the entire nation were one big New Jersey, Chris Christie would have the 2016 Republican presidential nomination in the bag.

Except there is only one New Jersey and, as a result, Christie's hypothetical path to the nomination will have to wind through far less favorable territory than solely the Garden State. And while it's tempting to extrapolate Christie's blowout re-election last week as a sign of his superior electability and presumed frontrunner status, there are questions about whether the New Jersey governor's broad support will extend beyond his home turf.

In the latest such indicator, an NBC poll out Tuesday found that Christie was the preferred candidate of GOP voters in just one region, the Northeast. There, 57 percent of Republicans said they would support Christie in a GOP primary versus 22 percent who said they would not.

However, pluralities of Republicans everywhere else said they would prefer a different candidate. Christie trailed a generic "other" GOPer in the Midwest (35/30 percent), the South (29/27 percent) and the West (40/22 percent.)

All told, Republican respondents nationwide are equally split between Christie, anti-Christie, and unsure. Of course, this poll might just illustrate the power of hometown advantage — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) could be the preferred candidate in the West, for instance — but it does highlight the governor's main problem should he launch a presidential campaign. Though he has significant bipartisan appeal — he won a third of Democrats and two-thirds of Independents in his re-election bid, according to the New York Times' exit polling data — that might not be much of a draw to many conservatives.

Other recent polling bears out that point.

-SNIP-

Read more:http://theweek.com/article/index/252658/...e-the-northeast

This is really bad news for Christie. The "Generic" Republican used for this poll was this guy...

I have no problem with this.

My problem with the tea party is simply tactics. Plain and simple.

Well... what else disgusted me was writing off viable candidate because of a non 100%-perfect conservative record.

Which I guess counts as tactics.

Quote: Cedric wrote in post #5

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A 2016 Cruz/Christie ticket (in that order) would be formidable.

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Quote: Weird Tolkienish Figure wrote in post #6

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I have no problem with this.

My problem with the tea party is simply tactics. Plain and simple.

Well... what else disgusted me was writing off viable candidate because of a non 100%-perfect conservative record.

Which I guess counts as tactics.

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Quote: Eglman wrote in post #1

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However, pluralities of Republicans everywhere else said they would prefer a different candidate. Christie trailed a generic "other" GOPer in the Midwest (35/30 percent), the South (29/27 percent) and the West (40/22 percent.)

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[quote=Weird Tolkienish Figure|p64134

Well... what else disgusted me was writing off viable candidate because of a non 100%-perfect conservative record.

[/quote]

Lindsay Grahamnesty is a "Viable" candidate. Should the TP candidates bow out of that Primary to let him take that seat?