Christie’s approval rating hits new low after beach photos

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) already dismal job approval ratings have sunk to a new all-time low after photos of him on a beach he closed to the public amid a state government shutdown went viral.

A Monmouth University poll released Monday found that just 15 percent of New Jersey adults think Christie is doing a good job as governor, matching numbers reported by Quinnipiac University last month. A whopping 80 percent disapprove of Christie’s performance, according to Monmouth.

Members of Christie’s own party gave the former 2016 GOP presidential candidate a 30 percent approval rating, while Democrats clocked in at only 7 percent.

{mosads}Fifty-five percent also said they felt the state was worse off than when Christie became governor; only 15 percent say the state is better off.

The poll asked respondents about photos of Christie sitting on a beach he closed as part of a government shutdown. Eighty-six percent had seen the photos — captured by NJ.com — and two-thirds of those had negative reactions toward the pictures, with “disgust” being the word most commonly used.

Six percent used a form of profanity to describe their reaction to the photos.

Christie’s 15 percent approval rating in the Quinnipiac University poll last month was the lowest rating of any governor measured by the poll since it started tracking the metric more than 20 years ago.

The Monmouth University poll surveyed 800 New Jersey adults over the phone from July 6 to 9 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.