New Poll is Mixed Bag For Christie

A new poll on New Jersey governor Chris Christie provides some good news and some bad news for him.

KYW's David Madden reports Christie's overall approval numbers are on the way up in the Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey survey -- from a 44%-44% favorable-unfavorable split in July, to 45%-38%.

Poll director Patrick Murray said, "I think that it would actually have been higher if not for Race to the Top."

That was the $400 million in federal education money New Jersey lost out on because of a paperwork snafu that led to the firing of education commissioner Bret Schundler last month.

"Prior to the Race to the Top, some polls were showing him above the 50 percent mark, and I think he definitely would have been there, but that blunder is something that  the Governor is really taking a hit from."

When asked who gets the blame for losing that money, 38 percent pointed to Christie, 20 percent to Schundler.