Even though former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been a pit bull in attacking Donald Trump during the Republican presidential primary season, he told Newsmax Friday it is not because of any personal animosity against the former president.
"Let me make it clear: I don't hate Donald Trump," Christie told "Eric Bolling The Balance." "I just don't believe he's fit to be president of the United States. There's a big difference between that. There's no personal hatred on my part at all."
In the RealClearPolitics average of polling, Christie has been struggling to gain traction on Trump or the likes of Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy. The polling average has him in fifth place at 2.2%. In Iowa, where the caucuses there kick off the primary season in January, the polling average has Christie in sixth place, behind even Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who dropped out of the race on Nov. 12.
Christie is faring best in New Hampshire among the early primary states, where he is third behind Haley and 34 points behind Trump.
"Why Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley?" Christie asked. "Because one poll shows her 5 points ahead of me in New Hampshire? I'm willing to put this in the hands of the voters, always have been. Both here in New Jersey and all around the country. And when people vote, I'll read those votes, and I'll understand what they mean."
Christie argued that pollsters aren't always correct, even though they have consistently had Trump ahead by wide margins for months. Christie cited the 2016 election when Hillary Clinton was expected to defeat Trump.
"You're out there predicting that Donald Trump's going to win this thing before anybody voted," Christie said. "By that standard, Hillary Clinton would be finishing her second term as president because all the polls right up until election night and with the exit polling on election night said Hillary Clinton was going to get 360 electoral votes.
"I don't understand why really smart people ... put so much faith in pollsters who have proved to us over and over and over again that they are wrong more than they're right."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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