TRENTON — (CNN) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says his campaign for the presidency — not his job performance — is to blame for his low approval ratings in his home state.
“When you start looking for another job, your current employer gets a little miffed, and that’s what’s happened here in New Jersey,” Christie told CNN’s Jake Tapper Sunday on “State of the Union.”
“I don’t govern for approval ratings, I govern for results,” he said.
A Rutgers University poll in December had found that just 33% of New Jersey voters approves of the job Christie is doing, while 59% disapprove.
Still, Christie said New Jersey’s readiness for this weekend’s blizzard shows his ability to manage during crises. “When the chips are down, I deliver,” he said.
Christie also took a shot at one of his Republican presidential opponents, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who had said the upside of the blizzard is that it freezes regulatory action in Washington.
“That shows a real immaturity from Sen. Rubio, to be joking as families were freezing in the cold, losing power, and some of them, losing their loved ones,” Christie said.
He mocked Rubio’s role in the Senate, saying that senators are used to “sitting where they tell you to sit, coming when they tell you to come, leaving when they tell you to leave — it sounds like school to me.”
Christie was also asked about former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s consideration of an independent campaign for president, reported first by The New York Times.
“When you’re not a candidate, you don’t deserve to be evaluated as to whether you’d be a good president or not,” Christie said.
Asked if he was a good mayor, Christie said: “Oh yeah, he was a good mayor. Sure.”
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